The national highway connecting Kolkata to Bangladesh, would be made into a 2-lane highway with modern infrastructure.
New Delhi: The important National Highway (NH) 112, that connects Barasat to Petrapole border (India-Bangladesh border), is likely to be redeveloped by the end of 2023. Earlier last month, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had said that this national highway, also known as Jessore Road and connecting Kolkata to Bangladesh, would be made into a two-lane highway with state-of-the-art infrastructure. The works for this highway would begin by the middle of this year and would be completed by the end of 2023.
This development comes after a letter from Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur was sent to Nitin Gadkari in September last year, where Thakur had requested Gadkari to look into the development of this highway as it caters to the important transport link between India and Bangladesh.
Shantanu Thakur told The Sunday Guardian said that he is happy that the Minister has considered his proposal for the development of this important highway and that he is assured that this long pending task will now be completed.
“I am extremely happy that the Hon’ble Minister has given his due consideration to the letter I personally met and submitted to him. Once this road gets developed, the adjoining towns in this area would also benefit from it and the people of Bongaon Lok Sabha will immensely benefit from this project.” Thakur said.
Shantanu Thakur was also the first MP to raise this issue in Parliament in 2019, soon after being elected as the MP from Bongaon the same year.
The 70 km of Jessore Road or NH -112 serves as the most important road between India and Bangladesh, as the Petropole border is one of the largest land ports in Asia and witnesses a daily business of more than Rs 100 crore. This Petrapole border sees a yearly movement of about one lakh trucks between Kolkata and Bangladesh through this highway. The Petrapole border also provides livelihood to thousands of families residing in the townships on this highway and a yearly trade of more than Rs 25,000 crore.
Several transport companies that operate in the border town of Bongaon spoke to this correspondent expressing their happiness over the news of developing this highway. Goutam Mondal, one of the directors of Maa Tara Parivahan, told The Sunday Guardian: “The Petrapole border is the most important border between India and Bangladesh and the road connecting to this border has remained in a shambles for decades. Our attempt to raise this with several authorities fell on deaf ears for years now. But now if this road is developed and widened, it will cut out delivery time of goods to Bangladesh, it will also increase our business with the neighbouring state. Fuel costs will go down and it would be something to cheer for everyone.”
Currently, the single lane highway is often overcrowded with trucks ferrying goods between India and Bangladesh, leading to a massive traffic jam on this road on a daily basis. The travelling time between Barasat and Petrapole border, which is just 70 km, is often more than 3-4 hours due to the poor condition of roads and overcrowding.
The NH 112 witnesses a daily truck movement of more than 10,000 trucks through this road, causing delays, heavy fuel consumption as well as traffic jams. The development of this highway would also provide respite to the residents of important townships like that of Habra, Bongaon, and Barasat that this highway passes through, as the time for daily commuters from these satellite townships to Kolkata would also drop significantly.
The demand for widening of this highway has been going on for years and the state government tried to take up this issue in 2018, but due to a protest by environmentalists, the project had to be stopped.
The Jessore road is dotted with huge trees on both sides, some as old as 100 years and environmentalists objected to the felling of these trees. The case had moved to the Calcutta High Court which allowed the felling of these trees, but this order was later challenged at the Supreme Court by the NGO, Association for Protection of Democratic Rights.
However, the Ministry of Environment had brought out a notification that to widen or redevelop roads that are less than 100 km in length, environmental impact assessment is not required.