The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has asked the Patna district administration to remove encroachment on the existing Danapur-Bihta road and ensure possession of adequate right of work (RoW) so that the field work on much-delayed elevated road project could start, officials familiar with the matter said.
Earlier this month, NHAI awarded the work order to Ashoka Buildcon to build four-lane elevated and at grade road from Danapur to Parev, via Bihta, at a cost of around ₹3,000 crore. However, the construction is yet to start for want of physical possession the required land free from encroachment.
Of the total 25-km-long project, Danapur to Bihta strech, 20km in length, is to be built on elevated foundation.
A senior NHAI official said more than 65 encroachers on the existing Danapur Bihta road (in two lanes) have been identified. Width of the road is around 80 feet, but it has narrowed down to 45 feet at some places due to encroachment. “The district administration is surveying the land for handover, which may take three-four months at the given pace,” the official said.
The road project was sanctioned by the union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) as part of the PM package to Bihar, along with Koilwar-Buxar stretch, ahead of the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar and its revised estimate was approved in 2020. While the Koilwar-Buxar four-lane road has been opened for traffic, work on Danapur-Bihta road is yet to commence.
As committed, the state government has sanctioned ₹456 crore to be spent on land acquisition and transfer of land to the railways at Hardinge Park in exchange for land near Danapur railway station.
Around 150 farmers hailing from Neora, UsariKhurd, Khedalpura, Painathi, Kothian and Parsa Mauza of Neora and Bihta areas are living on the land to be acquired. Around 375 plots have houses or other concrete structures to be demolished before the transfer. “Notices have been served on encroachers to vacate the land. Otherwise, these structures would be demolished and the encroachers would be penalised,” said a circle inspector of Danapur, not willing to be named.
On the inordinate delay in land acquisition, NHAI officials had met state chief secretary Amir Subhani to facilitate the transfer of railway land. The railways decided to transfer about 10 acres of land once the NHAI agreed to modify the elevated road design near divisional railway manager office.
Patna district magistrate cum collector Chandra Shekhar Singh was not available for comment.