Correspondent
NEW DLEHI, Aug 16: A delegation of the Ziro-Tai-Anando Bagan Highway Committee (ZTAHC), led by its chairman Larbin Nasi met MoS for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju at his official residence here on Sunday regarding ‘in-principal’ approval of the national highway from Daporijo (Upper Subansiri) to Dollungmukh (Lower Subansiri) via Dumporijo, connecting NH 15 at Anando Bagan (125 km), and construction of the Potin-Pangin stretch of the Trans-Arunachal Highway (TAH).
In a two-point memorandum, the delegation informed the MoS about the problems being faced by the people of Kamle, Upper Subansiri, and Lower Siang districts due to the deteriorating road condition.
Reportedly, the stretch of the Ziro-Daporijo-Tai road has not been maintained after it was taken over by the MoRTH about 10 years back.
With regard to the Daporijo-Dollungmukh national highway, the ZTAHC, which had earlier decided that no landowner would claim compensation for acquisition of land along the right of way (RoW), requested the minister to take up with the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) authority for early survey and investigation, and preparation of DPR within a stipulated time period in the current financial year.
Regarding the Potin-Pangin section of the TAH, the delegation requested for expediting the process of granting approval, sanction and award of works during this financial year.
Giving assurance that he would take the matter up with the appropriate authorities for early materialization of the proposal, Rijiju advised the team that there has to be change in the people’s mindset so far as construction of such mega projects in the state are concerned.
He also expressed displeasure over the delay in the land acquisition process leading to delay in implementation of the TAH project.
The ZTAHC also met NHIDCL Director (Technical) VK Rajawat, General Manager (T) Rajeev Sood, and Deputy GM (T) AK Jha, and held discussions. The NHIDCL officers assured to speed up the work, and expressed their happiness over the decision that land compensation would not be claimed on the RoW.
Earlier, on 9 August, the committee members had a detailed discussion with MoRTH’s Tezpur-base Regional Officer RK Singh in Itanagar about the Potin-Pangin package of the TAH.
