Surat Chennai Expressway News : Surat Chennai Greenfield Expressway is the second largest highway in the country after Mumbai – Delhi Expressway. Meanwhile, an important update regarding this highway project has come to the fore.

The land acquisition process of the country’s ambitious Surat-Chennai greenfield highway project has been accelerated. This highway will pass through Solapur district and the necessary land acquisition process for this highway is reaching its final stage in the district.

In fact, the central government has approved the project. Also, work has also started in neighboring Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Importantly, the process of land acquisition has stalled in Solapur, Dharashiv, Ahilyanagar and Nashik districts of Maharashtra.

This highway passes through a total of 68 villages in four talukas of Solapur district namely Akkalkot, Barshi, Dakshin Solapur and North Solapur. Out of the total area required for the project, the acquisition of 560 hectares of land has been completed so far and acquisition of 167 hectares is still pending.

That means 65 percent of the total acquisition work has been completed. 431 crores have been disbursed to the farmers so far for acquisition. But the allocation of Rs. 147 crore is still pending.

A demand of 24 crore 45 lakhs has been made from the district administration to the National Highways Department for the remaining funds. A total of 103 awards were sent to the National Highways Department for the project.

Out of these 65 awards have been sanctioned with funding. But 38 judgments are still pending. Taluk-wise pending judgments include Akkalkot 9, Barshi 7, South Solapur 15 and North Solapur 1.

Looking at the remaining acquisition in taluk wise, 35 hectares in Akkalkot, 64 hectares in Barshi, 65 hectares in South Solapur and 1.80 hectares in North Solapur taluka are left to be acquired.

Officials fear that if this process is not completed quickly, the schedule of the project will be affected. After the greenfield highway, Solapur district will get a new industrial direction and travel from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu will be quick and easy.

But the delay in land acquisition is becoming a big challenge for the project. The administration has stepped up its efforts to get the pending awards sanctioned, and emphasis is being placed on resolving farmers’ issues promptly.