Slow progress of National Highway-15 work adding to commuters’ woes

NH-15 stretch from Biswanath-Gohpur

A Correspondent

BISWANATH CHARIALI: The slow pace of four laning and widening of the National Highway-15 from Biswanath Chariali Bypass to Gohpur has been adding to the woes of the commuters.

The work of the 57.50-km stretch of the national highway from Biswanath Chariali Bypass to Gohpur was to be completed within three years. The work began in January 2016. The contract was assigned to TK Engineering and Consortium Private Limited.

It was the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways that had decided to widen the highway up to Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. The highway is known as the ‘backbone’ of Northern Assam. The road connects the Indo-China border with the rest of the country. Four laning of Holongi near Gohpur to Itanagar (around 19.20 km), a part of the highway, has been completed. The remaining stretch (Ch-208.00 km on NH-15 to Ch.265.50 km on NH 15) from Biswanath Chariali Bypass to Gohpur is a component of the SARDP-NE project connecting Itanagar. This road also connects Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of Assam and several districts of Arunachal Pradesh with the rest of the country.

The project was to widen the existing two-lane road of the 57.50-km stretch from Biswanath Chariali to Gohpur to a four-lane one with the scope of four new major bridge constructions, four new railway over bridge construction, 26 minor bridge construction and 78 new culvert construction along with a toll plaza, 7 km of service road, 11.5 km of roadside drain, 1.5 km of protection work, 108 minor junctions and road marking and painting, informatory, cautionary, hazard marking signboards and gantry erection in the entire stretch of 57.50 km.

TK Engineering and Consortium Private Limited got the contract for the four-laning and widening of the National Highway from Jamugurihat to Biswanath Chariali Bypass also later.

On the contrary, the work from Jamugurihat to Gohpur is going on at a snail’s pace and it is unlikely that the four-laning process will be over very soon. The situation has come to such a pass that common people have to think twice before travelling by this road. Big potholes, scattered sharp-edged stones, incomplete piles of some of the major bridges over rivers like Buroi, Borgang and Burigang, half-constructed culverts are common sights along the road.

Accidents are very common along the highway because of the alleged lackadaisical attitude of the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) which supervises the four-laning work. During the coming monsoon, the highway from Jamugurihat to Gohpur is going to haunt the commuters. The work for the proposed bypass near Biswanath Chariali town connecting Sakomatha and Burhigang is also yet to begin, causing heavy traffic jam in the town.

A good number of heavy vehicles, including long-distance trucks and buses ply along the highway every day.

According to the TK Engineering and Consortium Private Limited PRO, the Rastriya Ghaipath Kshatigrasta Suraksha Eikyamancha stopped the four-laning work as the affected people were not paid adequate compensation by the government agencies concerned.

The government had acquired land for the four-laning and expansion of National Highway 15 from Dolabari, Tezpur in Sonitpur district to Rajgarh, Gohpur in Biswanath in 2012. It included 132 villages from Dolabari, Tezpur to Rajgarh and Gohpur.

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