Highway, rail projects reviewed

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 19

Chief Secretary BR Sharma chaired the second meeting of the project monitoring group here today to review the progress on four-laning of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway project, ring road projects of Srinagar and Jammu cities, rail link project and various Border Roads Organisation projects.

The Chief Secretary reviewed the section-wise progress on the highway work. It was informed that the work on the 65-km Jammu-Udhampur section had been completed while as in the remaining five sections work was at different stages. The work on Srinagar-Qazigund section is likely to be completed by December this year, Qazigund-Banihal section by June next year, Ramban-Nashri section by December 2018 and Banihal- Ramban by June 2019.

Issues related to land acquisition, removal of structures, forest clearance, tree cutting and utility shifting in certain portions of the highway were discussed in the meeting, with the Chief Secretary issuing timelines to address these within the shortest time.

“Take immediate action to remove bottlenecks impeding the smooth construction and completion of the sections of the National Highway,” Chief Secretary told the officers concerned, adding that further progress would again be reviewed in the last week of November.

Instructions were also given to expedite the land acquisition proceedings for construction of four-lane ring road around Srinagar and Jammu cities. “Plan a calendar of activities for the ring road project and set clear timelines and accordingly move forward to accomplish the tasks within that period. Keep provision in the project for various types of civic amenities,” Chief Secretary instructed the Revenue, and Roads and Buildings authorities.

The Chief Secretary also reviewed the status of the Udhampur-Srinagar rail link project and gave instructions to the authorities concerned to resolve pending issues related to land acquisition, forest clearance, and construction of power transmission lines in Katra- Banihal section.

The progress of various BRO projects in Reasi, Rajouri, Samba and Poonch districts and on the Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri and Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road projects was also reviewed.

The chairman, National Highway Authority of India, Raghav Chandra; financial commissioner, planning development and monitoring department, BB Vyas; financial commissioner, revenue department, Lokesh Dutt Jha; commissioner secretaries of the Power Development Department, Roads and Buildings, Forest and Revenue, divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners were present.