Bhubaneswar: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has written a letter to his Cabinet colleague Nitin Gadkari to expedite the expansion work of NH 42 (55) in Odisha.
The National Highway expansion work is divided into two sections namely Cuttack- Angul section and Sambalpur-Angul section and the construction work is delayed due to the apathy of the contractor.
Pradhan has written a letter to Gadkari after receiving a petition from the villagers of Boinda in Angul district regarding inordinate delay in expansion and improvement to the highway.
“In their petition, they have stated that the foundation of NH-42 (55) was laid in December 2018 and it was decided to complete the work by September 2020. Further, they have stated that the expansion work of NH-42 (55) has been entrusted to M/s Gayatri Projects Ltd. whose work is not upto the mark as the company doesn’t carry out the work properly causing road accidents regularly,” the education minister said in his letter.
Around 600 lives have been lost in several road accidents in this area during the last four years while construction of two bridges at Panimahar and Chandan Pokhiri has not yet been completed, he pointed out.
Pradhan further mentioned that the construction of seven elephant underpasses (EUPs) is also pending and the land compensation amount at revised rate has not been paid to the land losers in many places.
“I take this opportunity to request you to look into the matter at your personal level for a favorable consideration of the above demand for the wellbeing of people of this area,” he added.