Shimla: The way has been cleared for the construction of half a dozen routes of the National Highway that have come out of the forest clearance. NHAI has set a target to complete the routes which have been cleared in the next three years.
NHAI has started the further process of construction. Land acquisition and other matters will now be settled in these routes. The Shimla-Mataur National Highway has got the biggest benefit of forest clearance.
Here the part from Chilbagh to Bhangwal including Hamirpur bypass has got clearance. The approval of both these parts was pending for the last about six months.
The tender for one part on this route from Mataur has already been done and construction work has also started on this part, while the file for the other two parts was pending with the Environment Ministry.
Now with these two approvals, the National Highway from Mataur to Hamirpur is almost cleared. In the next three years, the construction of four-laning will be completed here. NHAI can start the work of both these packages simultaneously in the next one to one and a half months.
Four laning is to be constructed in two parts between Kanthlighat to Dhali. Of these, approval has been received in the first phase from Shakral to Dhalli and it is expected that this part will be fully approved in the meeting to be held in July. After this the construction work will start here also.
The dumping site could not be found between Solan to Kanthlighat on the Shimla-Kalka National Highway. Because of this, the company management had to bear more expenses. Time was also being wasted.
The company management had demanded additional land from NHAI, so that this land could be developed as a dumping site, but this matter was also not getting out of forest clearance since last six months.
Now after getting the clearance, the construction of the Solan-Kanthalighat section will speed up. Apart from this, a sanction has also been received from Siuni to Rajol in Palampur.
NHAI has made it clear that the upcoming process will be expedited in the projects which have got forest clearance.
Regional Officer Abdul Basit said that NHAI would complete all the necessary formalities on time without losing any time and the construction of the project would be completed within the stipulated time.
