Problems in land acquisition and environmental clearances have delayed as many as 58 ongoing national highways projects, including 18 in Assam, the government said on Tuesday.

“Fifty-eight number of ongoing national highways projects are delayed for want of land acquisition, inter-alia, including shifting of utilities, environmental clearance etc,” Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Tushar A Chaudhary told Rajya in reply to a query.

The maximum number of 18 delayed projects were in Assam, followed by seven in Jammu & Kashmir and five each in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, he said.

Projects facing delays on account of land acquisition included four in Rajasthan, two each in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and one each in Haryana and Karnataka.

Chaudhary said the completion target of the projects are “revised wherever necessary depending upon the constraints/ bottlenecks and resolutions thereof.”

Enunciating the steps undertaken to expedite the projects he said high-powered committees have been set up in states under the chairmanship of concerned chief secretaries besides establishing special land acquisition units to minimise delays.

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