Pace of National Highways works in Assam: 13 km in 3 months!

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The statistics of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have revealed that Assam is lagging behind in the construction and development of national highways when compared to other states of the country.

During the current financial year (2023-24) until June 30, 2023, only 13 km of national highway were either constructed or developed in the state. Significantly, during these three months (April, May, and June), 2,250 km of national highway were either constructed or developed in the country.

According to statistics from the Union Ministry, Maharashtra topped the list of either constructing or developing 340 km of national highways during the three months, followed by Uttarakhand with 197 km, Rajasthan with 196 km, Tamil Nadu with 179 km, Karnataka with 130 km, Andhra Pradesh with 108 km, Chhattisgarh with 91 km, Gujrat and Uttar Pradesh with 87 km each, West Bengal with 85 km, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh with 83 km each, Odisha with 71 km, Haryana with 65 km, Bihar with 62 km, Himachal Pradesh with 60 km, Jharkhand with 51 km, Talengana with 50 km, etc.

In the financial year 2022-23, 310 km of national highway were either constructed or developed in Assam, compared to 10,457 km of construction or development all over the country. Assam had the highest construction or development of national highways in 2020-21, with 567 km of work since 2016-17.

The slow progress of national highway works in Assam is not new. In 2014, the Central Government decided to make the national highway from Nagaon to Dibrugarh a four-lane one from two lanes. Though the highway from Nagaon to Koliabor Tiniali is almost over, the stretch from Jorhat to Dibrugarh is not yet complete, making people suffer. Meanwhile, four lanes of the stretch from Kaliabor Tiniali to Dolabari are nearing completion, but the stretch from Dolabari to Gohpur is far from being over.

Two Central Government agencies, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL), are constructing and developing national highways in Assam.

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