HC asks Bengal to sort out issues on NH-34 land acquisition

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked West Bengal government to take urgent steps to sort out issues over land acquisition and compensation to owners to facilitate completion of widening of NH-34, the lifeline between south and north Bengal.

Justice Sanjib Banerjee told Advocate General Jayanta Mitra that the state government should take adequate initiative in sorting out issues in which land acquisition and payment of compensation to owners have remained issues.

Hearing a petition by an owner whose land was taken for widening of NH-34 in which the amount offered to him is the bone of contention, Justice Banerjee said there have been cases where political personalities have had a say over government officials in matters relating to land.

Justice Banerjee said that he had on earlier occasions asked the state government to take steps to unshackle the state officials from such impediments in order to expedite the widening of the highway.

Work on widening of the arterial highway, which starts from Barasat in North 24 Parganas and ends at Dalkhola in North Dinajpur to meet NH-31, started several years back but the progress has been very slow owing to land acquisition issues. The matter would be heard again after three weeks.