NH 44 to be converted in four lane soon

Agartala, Oct 13: The National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) has submitted a draft realignment proposal to convert the Assam-Agartala National Highway 44 into four lanes.

The state government had been demanding conversion of the existing two lane road into four lane for long keeping in mind Tripura's poor road connectivity with the rest of the country.

Official sources said here that preliminary work for conversion of NH-44 (Agartala to Churaibari) in Tripura into four lanes had started with the NHAI doing the bulk of the work.

The state Public Works Department(PWD) is assisting the NHAI. The source further added that the NHAI had already engaged two consultative firms to conduct realignment and survey for the conversion.

NHAI General Manager S K Nirmal, who is in the state, made a presentation before Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and PWD Minister Badal Chaudhury on Wednesday.

Mr Sarkar and the PWD Minister did not oppose draft realignment proposal made by him but appealed to minimize the loss of public property while executing the conversion work, the source added.

According to the draft proposal, the existing distance between Churaibari and Agartala will be shortened by 21 km. The current distance between the border town and the state capital is about 200 km. However, loss of property could not be ruled out as the NHAI was contemplating minimizing curves on the highway.

After the state's request, the NHAI had assured that it would look into the issue while preparing the final proposal for the proposed conversion work. The Centre had sanctioned Rs 31 crores for reducing curves on the NH 44 as early as posible.

Meanwhile, the NHAI authorities had ruled out inclusion of Agartala-Sabroom road in the proposed conversion work even though the state had been demanding it.

In another development, the district authorities of Dhalai had taken up various measures to ensure that passengers do not suffer when there is a road blockade in the NH 44 in the Atharamura and Longtarai Hill range.

The district authorities had also decided that whenever a blockade occurs, Central Reserve Police Force jawans, deployed for road patrolling, will inform the General Reserve Engineering Force(GREF) and the concerned authorities about the incident. It was also decided that in case of any accident, patients will be provided first aid at the Assam Rifles Hospital at Betbagan in Bholai District.

UNI