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Two stretches of Gujarat-Assam East-West Corridor remain incomplete after years
The East-West Corridor is part of the Golden Quadrilateral project, announced by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on October 10, 1998, to connect the four corners of India with high quality roads
One of the remaining two stretches of the 3,300km East-West Corridor between Assam’s Silchar and Gujarat’s Porbandar may be complete by April 30 next year but the second stretch is turning out to be problematic, said people familiar with the matter.
The construction of the corridor has been completed in other states, except for two stretches in Assam – the Balacherra-Harangajao portion (25.25km) in Dima Hasao and Cachar districts and the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch (48.8 km) in Dima Hasao district, according to officials of the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
Member of Parliament (MP) from Silchar, Rajdeep Roy said that landslides are one of the reasons why these two stretches still remain incomplete.
Due to heavy rainfall in 2022, which caused multiple landslides in Dima Hasao and Cachar districts, at least 18 parts of the road were washed away.
“Condition of soil is one of the reasons behind the delay in construction and many companies left the works in the past. Presently one Gujarat-based company is working on it, and they are using advanced technologies,” the MP said.
“There are areas where construction of roads is almost impossible and for that they are making elevated roads there. 3.2 kilometres part of the East-West Corridor will be elevated road and for that piling work has already started. If the construction agencies complete the piling, it will take around six months to construct the structure,” he said.
The East-West Corridor, which is also called Mahasadak, is part of the Golden Quadrilateral project, announced by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on October 10, 1998, to connect the four corners of India with high quality roads. The foundation stone of East-West Corridor was laid by then Union finance minister Jaswant Singh in 2004. It was supposed to be completed by 2007 but it was delayed several times because of forest clearance issues and other issues.
Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari unveiled a bronze statue of Vajpayee at the Zero Point of the East-West Corridor in Silchar on December 25, 2020 along with then Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Gadkari had then announced that the construction would be completed in March 2022. However, the deadline later shifted to April 30, 2023 and the agency involved in the project said that 89% of the work had been completed.
In April last year, Gadkari approved 1,674 crore rupees to complete the construction of two highway stretches of East-West Corridor.
SS Reddy from Sushi Infra, the company which has been assigned for the Balacherra-Harangajao stretch’s work, said that the road was 31 kilometres in the original plan but in order to avoid the curves at the hills, they constructed 28 bridges which has reduced the length.
“This is a national standard highway and we prefer making such roads as much straight as possible. We have connected hills by building 28 big and small bridges and as a result, the length has been reduced to 25 kilometres from 31,” Reddy told HT on Monday.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a visit to Silchar last year said that the previous state governments had created obstacles to delay the project and they intentionally announced a part of Dima Hasao as reserve forest.
He said that construction is not easy in those areas, however, the central government is committed to complete the dream project of Bharat Ratna Vajpayee and it would be completed by 2026.
Former member of Parliament Sushmita Dev said that instead of making this road, the central government should have worked on alternative road to connect Silchar and Lumding through Lanka.
