After a long wait, the Meerut-Muzaffarnagar highway project is back on track with the Muzaffarnagar district administration settling the grievances of the locals.

The residents of Khatauli block were not allowing the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to convert the two-lane highway to four-lane on the 3.5 km stretch within the block. The locals were dissatisfied with the compensation that was being offered by the government and had a problem with the land ownership.

“The dispute has been settled and the distribution of compensation has already started,” said Ravindra Godbole, Additional District Magistrate, Finance, Muzaffarnagar.

“As the dispute has come to an end, we are

taking up the project and will complete it positively by December-end. The project needs to be completed before the Kumbh Mela, which will take place in January, 2010, in Haridwar, Uttarakhand,” said H C Arora, NHAI Chief General Manager.

“This project is not only important for the Kumbh Mela but also because it will provide a congestion free route to reach Uttarakhand from UP and other adjoining states,” added Arora.

In 2005, the NHAI was entrusted with the job of converting a high traffic density section (78.31 km stretch) of the Meerut-Muzaffarnagar highway to four-lane from the existing two-lane under the National Highway Development Project Phase-III (A) on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.

The NHAI had signed a Rs 360 crore-agreement with Western UP Tollway Limited (WUPTL) — a joint venture between Nagarjuna Construction Company and MAYTAS Infra Private Limited — in 2005.

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