Silchar: The construction work of the East-West corridor’s Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch in Assam’s Dima Hasao district began on Wednesday formally with a bhumi pujan (land worshipping) ceremony in Jatinga.
North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC)’s chief executive member Debolal Gorlosa performed the bhumi pujan ceremony in the presence of a host of other dignitaries.
The East-West corridor to connect Barak Valley’s Silchar with Gujarat’s Saurashtra was announced by former Prime Minister 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 3,300km-road was supposed to be completed by 2007. The construction of the corridor has been completed in other parts of the country except for two stretches – one is the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch (in Dima Hasao district) and another is the Harangajao-Balacherra portion (in Dima Hasao and Cachar districts).
On Wednesday, the bhumi pujan ceremony was organised in Jatinga, about 6km from Haflong, the headquarter of Dima Hasao district.
Besides Debolal Gorlosa, other dignitaries including Ranu Langthasa, chairperson, NCHAC; and Kaushik Patel, project director, Dineshchandra R. Agrawal Infracon Private Limited (the construction agency, which has been assigned for the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch’s work), were also present along with other dignitaries.
Sharing his reaction, Debolal Gorlosa said the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao (around 49km) stretch’s pathetic condition has been a major concern for the people of Dima Hasao district and Barak Valley for decades. Construction work was done on the road by multiple contractors in the past 10 years, but the road’s condition deteriorated with time because of geomorphic issues, Gorlosa said.
“The state government has been in touch with Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari since 2018 regarding the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is giving special emphasis on the road’s work. Minister Nandita Gorlosa’s efforts for the improvement of road connectivity in the hill district also deserve praise. People of both Dima Hasao district and Barak Valley will be benefited once the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch’s work gets completed. Tourism in the hill district will also be developed,” Gorlosa said.
The NCHAC’s chief executive member pledged to extend his complete support to the DRA Infraction Private Limited regarding the road project. He also sought the co-operation of the residents of Dima Hasao for the proper and smooth completion of the project.
DRA Infracon Private Limited‘s project director Kaushik Patel said he is hopeful that the Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch, which will be made a four-lane route, will be completed on time (within three years). “Some bottlenecks (geomorphic problems) are there. Hopefully, these will be solved permanently and the road project will be completed properly,” he said.
Narrating about details of the work, Patel said elevated roads will be built in 14 different places on the 49km Nirimbanglo-Harangajao stretch. The construction will be done without destroying nature. “Sufficient machinery, human resource, and technology are available with us. The project will be wrapped up smoothly if the weather remains good,” Patel said.
It may be mentioned that the other portion of the East-West corridor – Harangajao-Balacherra road – has also been in a dilapidated condition for years. Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari had on December 25, 2020, at a programme held in Silchar on the occasion of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 96th birth anniversary, announced that the road work would be completed by March 2022, but the project remains incomplete till date.
Silchar BJP MP Rajdeep Roy had said multiple times that the work would be wrapped by 2023, but it has not been done yet.
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At present, National Highway-6 (Barak Valley-Guwahati road via Meghalaya) is the only properly motorable road from Barak Valley to Guwahati, but movement on the road gets disrupted often during the monsoon season because of landslides and mudslides. Once completed, the East-West corridor will be an alternate route from this valley to the state capital.
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