Silchar: The construction of the East-West corridor’s Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch in Assam’s Dima Hasao district will reportedly begin in September using Japanese technology.
The East-West corridor to connect south Assam’s Silchar with Gujarat’s Saurashtra was announced by the then Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee on October 10, 1998. Its foundation stone was laid by the then Minister for Surface Transport B.C. Khanduri and Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in 2004.
The 3,300-km road was supposed to be completed by 2007. The portion from Nirimbanglo to Harangajao, a part of the corridor, is yet to be fully constructed due to various geomorphic factors. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been tasked with monitoring the stretch’s construction process.
Sources in the NHAI said that the work on the four-lane route (about 49 km) from Nirimbanglo to Harangajao will start in September, and the road will be constructed using Japanese technology. Construction agency Dineshchandra R. Agarwal Infracon Private Limited has been assigned for the project, sources said.
“Mapping and other related work have already started. Setting up of various camps along the stretch and mobilisation of machinery and materials will be done by August. Out of the 49 km road, 4 km road will be an elevated route, and a 2 km road near Nirimbanglo will be built as per a new alignment as the road is a sinking zone. The road’s alignment will be changed in another area in New Leikul (Jatinga),” sources said.
Elevated roads will be made in Boro Mulkoi and Reko (between Jatinga and Harangajao) as these areas are landslide-prone. Rearrangements might be made in their alignments too wherever needed. The entire route will be built without destroying nature, the sources said.
Dineshchandra R. Agarwal Infracon Private Limited has been given a deadline of 1095 days to complete the construction of the 49 km road and the company will have to carry out the maintenance work for the next 15 years, sources added.
Minister for Development of North East Region (DoNER) G. Kishan Reddy had recently said that the construction process of the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch is being initiated with a “fresh approach” as per a new detailed study, incorporating various geotechnical mitigation measures to ensure the road’s stability.
The minister made the statement while responding to a question by Karimganj BJP MP Kripanath Mallah about the status of the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch’s construction work.
Reddy, in his reply, said, “The work on Nirimbanglo to Harangajao section remains to be completed as the older contracts were foreclosed due to inherent geotechnical and geological difficulties such as frequent landslide, frequent hill movements, and slip failures. Now, the balance works on the section has been re-awarded after carrying out fresh detailed project study incorporating several geotechnical mitigation measures for ensuring the stability of the road.”
Notably, construction of the East-West corridor has been completed in other parts of the country, barring two stretches – one is the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch (about 49km) and another one is the Balacherra-Harangajao route (about 25.15 km).
The Balacherra-Harangajao stretch used to be around 31 km long earlier, but it was reduced to 25.15 km after the route was redesigned in some areas owing to various geomorphic factors. Landslips, especially during the monsoons, and heavy to very heavy rainfall have been the major reasons behind the tardy pace of construction of the two incomplete routes over the years.
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