Chennai: The National Highways Authority of India has sought to revive the stuck Chennai-Salem greenfield expressway by urging the state government to issue directions to district collectors of Salem, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai and Kancheepuram to cooperate for completion of social impact assessment study and preparation of environment impact assessment report for the project.
The central agency, so far, has not received any written communication from the state government to drop the project, sources said.
The Supreme Court in December last had upheld the notification for acquisition of land for the 10,000 crore green corridor project and directed the NHAI to get environmental clearance for the project before carrying out land acquisition. “To get the environmental clearance, the Union environment ministry has suggested that studies have to be carried out on the field for which the state government’s cooperation is required. It is not forthcoming despite a communique to the top state government officials recently,” said an NHAI official.
