Despite MHA’s 2010 nod, strategic roads along Nepal border yet to be completed

Almost 15 years after the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA’s) proposal to construct 1,377-km strategic roads along the Indo-Nepal border to enable Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to dominate the sensitive border effectively was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), the work on these roads remains incomplete. Three stretches in UP and two stretches in Bihar of encumbrance free roads are yet to be completed, despite repeated revision of timelines.

Delay in land acquisition, obtaining of environment, forest and wildlife clearances by Uttar Pradesh and Bihar governments led to incessant postponement of the project, which consistently missed timelines. Even in 2025, work remains to be completed in the aforementioned stretches.

The CCS had cleared the proposal to build roads along the India-Nepal border in November 2010. Of these, 640 km of stretches were to be build in UP, 564 km in Bihar and 173 km in Uttarakhand at an estimated cost of Rs 3,853 crore within five years, i.e. by March 2016. The construction work was to be undertaken by the PWD and road construction departments of the three states.

While the cost of construction was to be borne by the Centre, the three state governments had to bear the cost of land, ensure wildlife and forest clearances, as well as other statutory clearances and look after the maintenance of these roads.

The first deadline of March 2016 was missed as there were delays in acquisition of land and obtaining clearances. Therefore, fresh extension of time was given by the CCS in February 2018 up to December 31, 2019, for completion of ongoing works that were free from encumbrance and up to December 31, 2022, for completion of work involving land with encumbrance.

A High-Level Empowered Committee (HLEC) of MHA which is headed by the Union Home Secretary and empowered by the CCS to consider any change in the projects in the time and cost estimates within overall ceilings sanctioned by CCS in December 2019, had further extended the timeline up to December 31, 2022, for the whole project i.e. encumbrance free stretches and stretches with encumbrance.

Even a high-level parliamentary panel, i.e. the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in its report, which was laid in Parliament during the recently concluded monsoon session, had noted that a strategically important project has been delayed due to lack of proper survey and planning at the initial stages.

According to the MHA, the expected timelines for the three ongoing encumbrance free stretches in Uttar Pradesh was October 31, 2024. Similarly the expected timeline for two ongoing encumbrance free stretches in Bihar was January 31, 2025, while the timeline for 10 stretches with encumbrance was June 30, 2025.

In Uttarakhand, only a bridge of 690 metres length remains to be completed, for which the expected timeline is October 31, 2025.

With even these aforementioned latest timelines having been missed, MHA sources informed that the progress of the ongoing stretches is being regularly monitored through meetings and inspections.

Even the PAC noted in its report that learning from the past, necessary approvals should be obtained in advance before approving the detailed project reports (DPRs) of projects of such magnitude in future.