Bhubaneswar: The proposed coastal highway in Odisha, which has been hanging fire over environmental issues since 2015, has finally been cleared with necessary changes in the alignment.
The state government has sent its approval of the project under the Centre’s Bharatmala Pariyojana, which has been aligned keeping its environmental impact in view, to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The changed alignment of the coastal highway will not affect the ecology of Balukhand wildlife sanctuary, Bhitarkanika national park and the turtle nesting grounds. The length of the highway has also been brought down to 382 km from 450 km.
Additional secretary, Works department Hemanta Kumar Dutta in a letter to NHAI chief general manager (technical) Ram Prasad Panda said the highway will pass through Tangi (NH-16), Brahmagiri, Puri, Konark, Astaranga, Naugaon, Paradip Port, Ratanpur, Satabhaya, Dhamra, Basudevpur, Talapada, Chandipur, Chandaneswar and Digha, a news agency reported.
Earlier, the coastal highway was proposed from Gopalpur in Ganjam district to Satapada across Chilika Lake. Now, it will start from Tangi on NH-16 avoiding the Chilika Lake. Besides, adequate cross drainage structures would be put in place to allow passage.
It may be noted that Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced the coastal highway project during his visit to Odisha in April, 2015. But the Ministry of Environment refused to approve the project on the ground that the proposed alignment would affect the sensitive ecology of Chilika Lake.
