Meeting held to resolve problems to construct stretches of east-west super highway in North Bengal

Darjeeling: In an attempt to resolve the problems faced by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in constructing the east-west stretch of the Golden Quadrilateral Super Highway network, Minister Gautam Deb held a meeting with the NHAI authorities in Siliguri on Thursday.

"On the instruction of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a meeting had been convened attended by NHAI representatives from Kolkata and local representatives in which most of the problems being faced by them were resolved," stated Minister Deb.

The talks mainly revolved around the 153 km stretch from Salsalabari to Ghoshpukur area of the highway. "Problems relating to land acquisition and other issues were discussed and resolved. In the past also a meeting between local and public representatives, DM and SP had helped resolve the problems on the 10 km stretch of Islampur," stated the Tourism Minister.

Work is on and the Islampur stretch is expected to complete by December 2020. There are some grey areas still pending on the Dhupguri stretch where the NHAI has decided to construct a service road. Another rounds of talks will be held to resolve these issues.

Though the problems of Alipurduar 1 block has been resolved, there are certain problems in Alipurduar 2 block. "Two WBSEDCL towers need to be relocated. I have already spoken to the concerned authorities and the process will commence soon," stated the Minister.

The NHAI has also agreed to construct a service road at Fatapukur. "After August 20, we will have two more meetings, one at Uttarkanya (the State secretariat in North Bengal) and the other at Alipurduar. In these two meetings, we will try and resolve all the pending problems," stated Deb.

NHAI authorities have dubbed Thursday's meeting as highly fruitful. "Many important issues were discussed in the meeting and resolved," stated Sandeep Sharma, General Manager, East, NHAI.