Silchar, May 15: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 139 crore for renovation of the two-lane National Highway 44 that connects Tripura and adjacent south Assam districts of Karimganj and Cachar to the rest of the country via Meghalaya.
The development comes in the wake of people’s growing ire over the “sad state of decay” of the highway. At least four persons have died on this national highway in recent road mishaps.
The portions of the highway that will be renovated are the 32-km Karimganj bypass near Puamara that stretches upto Churaibari, the 15km stretch between Malidahar and Kaline and the 26km stretch between Kaline and Karimganj town on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) under the Union ministry of highways and shipping, which has been maintaining this road since it was built in the late sixties, had handed it over to the state PWD’s national highway wing in July for its upkeep. The BRTF was forced to hand it over to the state government because of lack of funds for its periodic maintenance and shortage of trained technical staff.
The plan for the makeover of this national highway was reviewed yesterday in a meeting at Badarpur town. Karimganj deputy commissioner M. Angamuthu and executive engineer of the PWD (national highways) Pranab Sinha attended the meeting.
Sinha last night said the process of completion of the tender formalities would be over in two months and the civil engineering work was expected to start in August. It will be completed in two years, he added.
He also said the PWD would strictly monitor specified phases on this highway for quality control.