Missing land records queer the pitch for coastal highway

DELAYED by a decade over alignment issues, the ambitious coastal highway project has hit another major hurdle, with missing land records in several villages in at least three coastal districts.

- HEMANT KUMAR ROUT @Bhubaneswar

Sources said particulars of over 250 hectares of land across 53 villages in Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts have not been provided to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), stalling further progress of the proposed 346 km highway.

Although four months have passed since the issue was initially flagged by the highway authorities and the state government directed the districts to provide the land details, non-availability of records prior to 1980 in the record room has further complicated the problem.