Work on National Highways along a major portion of the East-West Corridor in Uttar Pradesh has come to a halt as the state government wants the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to provide 10 metres of additional land on either side of the highways for tree plantation.This is over and above the land needed for the highways. As many as 20 projects, covering a distance of close to 700 km that pass through the state on the East-West Corridor, have been affected by this demand by the state forest department.Sources said that while the NHAI has been able to acquire additional land for some stretches, it has not made much progress near Lucknow, that has eight of the 20 East-West corridor stretches.In fact, sources said that even some of the Golden Quadrilateral projects—such as the Hapur-Moradabad stretch—have been hit.Senior officials said the state government has not yet agreed to the NHAI’s offer to provide similar quantum of land at other locations and even the funds to meet the costs of plantation.A few days ago, the sub-committee of the committee on infrastructure chaired by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia took up the matter but failed to come out with a viable solution.Sources said Road Transport Minister T R Baalu has written to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to resolve the matter. He pointed out the Centre’s offer to provide 20 metres of additional land along the National Highway. A meeting between the two was scheduled for this week but has now been postponed.As a fallout of this demand, the committee on infrastructure along with the road transport ministry and NHAI are likely to reduce the condition to acquire at least 85 per cent of the land at the time work is awarded to the contractor under the new model concession agreement. The NHAI could also prioritise their work and would first take up construction in only those states which cooperate in facilitating land acquisition.
