Single lane highways in Uttarakhand to be double laned

Dehradun, (IANS) Union Road Transport and National Highways Minister C.P. Joshi Thursday directed officials of the National Highways Authority to convert 1,463 km long single lane National Highways in Uttarakhand to double lane and the double lane to four-lane wherever possible.

Chairing a meeting here, Joshi said that so far the progress of work on National Highways in Uttarakhand was slow and coordination amongst various departments was necessary to expedite the work. He directed the officers to constitute a Monitoring Committee which would be headed by the chief secretary of the hill state.

Joshi also asked officials to approach the acquisition of land for the expansion with a humane touch and ask them to provide them justified compensation.

He also suggested establishing a Unit comprising of retired experienced experts to look into the matters related to land acquisition, compensation and to redress their other problems.