Land scarcity forces NHAI to trim 6-lane NH-33 down to 4-lane

NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY COUNCIL MEMBER RAVINDRA TIWARI AND JAMSHEDPUR MP BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, SAID THEY WOULD MEET UNION MINISTER NITIN GADKARI TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM

JAMSHEDPUR: The NH-33 stretch between Ranchi and Baheragora via Jamshedpur will be of six lanes, barring the 2.5 km stretch between Pardih Chowk and Dimna Chowk in Jamshedpur where it will have two four-lane flyovers at each end and fourlane raid stretch in between, NHAI officials said on Saturday.

National Road Safety Council (NRSC) member Ravindra Tiwari and Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato, however, said they would meet the Union minister of road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari with four viable alternative options to resolve the problem of unavailability of land for service lanes and six-lane road between Pardih and Dimna chowks.

“We are sending a revised proposal for building an underpass at Pardih Chowk and two 800meter four-lane flyovers at Pardih and Dimna ends of the 2.5 km stretch between Pardih Chowk and Dimna Chowk here in Jamshedpur.

This is because we require a 60m wide land stretch for a six-lane road with service lanes of 10m width on both sides. But there is only a three meter land available on both sides of the 2.5 km stretch which is only 45m wide between Pardih and Dimna. We have set a deadline of September 15 for getting this proposal approved by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) headquarters in Delhi and start work on ground,” Prabhat Kumar, NHAI project director, Jharkhand regional office, said.

Kumar, Tiwari and Mahato had inspected the NH-33 stretch between Pardih and Dimna along with Vikas Kumar, the representative of the construction company Gujarat-based Iron Triangle here on Friday. Iron Triangle has been building the six-lane NH-33 stretch between Chilgu and Mahulia for Rs 379 crore.

He said a single 2.5 km flyover was also discussed but technical experts said it was not financially viable with the huge cost involved.

NHAI project director said a land acquisition and compensation proposal worth Rs 58 crore was prepared in 2011-12 but local people were not ready as their residences and commercial buildings were coming under the threat of demolition for the land required. “The six-lane road requires a 60m wide land stretch whereas we have only a 45m wide stretch available between Pardih and Dimna. It will require about Rs 200 crore to acquire an additional 15-meter land stretch at the present cost,’ said Kumar.