Kokani.me Kokani.me
When will the widening of the Mumbai-Goa highway, which has been going on for the last 13 years, be completed and when will the deadline for the completion of the project end? This question has baffled all Konkanites. For the last six years, the deadline has been changed repeatedly by the state government and the central government, now the new “deadline” has been given as 31 December 2024.
The four-lane highway from Panvel to Zarap-Patradevi, which is about 450 km long, has been going on since 2011. Advocate Adv. Pechkar has continued to follow up consistently. Out of the total 11 phases of this work, ten phases (84 km to 450 km stretch) are under the responsibility of the Public Works Department of the state government. The central government's National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is responsible for the phase zero to 84 km (Panvel to Indapur). Since the work of this highway is going on at a very slow pace, the court took a very serious notice a few years ago. At that time, “NHAI” had given a written assurance to the court to complete the work by June 2019 and “PWD” by 31 January 2020. Both the administrations could not keep that promise. Therefore, Pechkar filed a contempt petition against the officials in 2021. After that “NHAI” guaranteed a new “deadline” of 31 March 2022 and PWD “31 December 2022” for project completion; But both the administrations could not keep that promise. Even though the written guarantee could not be complied with, these administrations did not apply properly to the court for extension of time. Therefore, on July 5, 2023, the High Court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on both the administrations. Now according to the affidavit filed on December 21, 2023, the “deadline” has been changed again and it has been assured in the court that the project will be completed by December 31, 2024. Moreover, even today only 35.14 percent work of Aarvali to Kante stage and only 30.95 percent work of Kante to Walked stage has been completed.
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