Kolkata: Chief Secretary (CS) HK Dwivedi on Thursday sought details about the greenfield expressway project from the National Highway Authorities of India after its officials made a presentation before the state government at Nabanna regarding the construction of the proposed 610-km-long greenfield expressway that has been planned under Bharatmala Pariyojna (BMP) Phase-2 to provide high-speed connectivity to the northern and eastern regions of the country.
The Chief Secretary held a high-level meeting with the District Magistrates of five districts to discuss several aspects regarding the projects as various issues are involved.
After going through an assessment, the state will give directives to the DMs of 5 districts to initiate the process. State government will give clearance for land acquisition in various districts for the construction of the six-lane Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata expressway after carrying out a survey. The expressway will pass through the districts like Purulia, Bankura, West Medinipur, Hooghly, and Howrah before reaching Kolkata.
A total of 242 km of road will be constructed in the five districts of Bengal under this project. There will be a total of 187 km stretch in Jharkhand, 159 km in Bihar and 22 km of road will be constructed in Uttar Pradesh.
The greenfield expressway is supposed to be completed within 2027-28. State government is yet to take up land acquisition work for the Calcutta-Varanasi Expressway.
CS asked the DMs in the five districts to undertake various steps in this regard.
The move assumes significance as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming to Kolkata on December 30 to attend the National Ganga Council meeting. Earlier, this month, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had floated global tenders to build a 54-km initial stretch, starting from Varanasi.
This includes a 27-km stretch between Varanasi Ring Road and Chandauli-Chainpur road in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at a cost of Rs 988.24 crore.
The road will enter Jharkhand via Chatra district and exit from Bokaro via Hazaribagh and Ramgarh to Bengal's Purulia district, after covering a distance of about 187 km. From Purulia, it will reach Kolkata connecting Bankura, West Medinipur, Hooghly and Howrah.