The under-construction East-West corridor in Nagaon on Sunday. Picture by Sarat Sarma
Guwahati, March 21: Union road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath has assured the All Assam Students Union that he would depute top officials of his ministry to ensure the completion of the four-lane East-West corridor in Assam.
The highway will connect Porbandar in Gujarat and Silchar in Assam.
AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya said a delegation of the students union met Nath in New Delhi on Friday and expressed their resentment over the delay in completing the highway.
He said the AASU smelt foul play in the delay and demanded that the Union ministry should set up a monitoring cell to look after execution of the highway project.
“During the discussion with the AASU representatives, Nath blamed the Assam government for not being able to provide adequate land in time for the highway project. The failure of the Assam State Electricity Board to shift electrical poles or power lines in the state had also put up hurdles in the construction of the four-lane highway. But we had made it clear that the AASU would accept no excuse and that effective measures must be taken by the ministry to expedite the construction. Two senior officials of the ministry have already spoken to us and they will arrive in the state by the first week of April,” Bhattacharyya said.
The super highway will stretch from Srirampur to Rakhaldubi near Bijni, Rakhaldubi to Jalukbari and Jalukbari to Nagaon via Barpeta and Nalbari.
From Nagaon, the highway will pass through NC Hills district to connect with Silchar.
Work along the NC Hills sector was affected because firms engaged in the construction had to stop work after threats from the DHD (J) group, which has since entered into a ceasefire with the government.
The Centre has planned to connect Itanagar and Assam with a four-lane highway by constructing two bridges over the rivers Jia Bhorali and Brahmaputra.
The AASU leaders also met human resource development minister Kapil Sibal on Friday.
Sibal assured the student leaders of a one-time grant of Rs 100 crore for Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University.
“The AASU had told Sibal the grant will be a great help for the universities to upgrade their academic status and infrastructure to rank themselves with the top bracket institutions in the country. The minister appreciated our move and assured us that he will sanction the funds,” Bhattacharyya said.
The AASU has welcomed the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which cleared the final revamp cost of Rs 635.53 crore for the Namrup Revamp Project of the Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation Ltd on Friday.
“The committee clearance will enable the company to continue the production of urea and will ensure adequate and timely availability of urea in the region,” he said.
