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Software
icon N R Narayana Murthy today opposed
the practice of acquiring farm lands
for special economic zones (SEZs),
saying that the earlier practice
of companies building their own
campuses was good enough. "I agree
that we cannot take land from farmers",
the non-executive chairman and chief
mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited
told reporters, who sought his views
on the raging debate over SEZs.
"The earlier policy, where individual
companies were building their own
campuses, was a good one," he said,
adding that bringing real estate
players in between was probably
not the best thing to do. Murthy,
the face of India's booming IT industry,
added: "and that's why all this
furore has been created. I think
the earlier policy of requesting
companies to deal directly to get
land and build their own campuses
is a good one". He said that the
recent Nandigram incident in West
Bengal, where 11 people were killed
in police firing during a protest,
is likely to have "some repercussions".
"Because, at the end of the day,
let's remember that news travels
through internet pretty quickly
and given that it is so, people
all over the world will read it
and perhaps in some ways some of
them will misinterpret it too. So
in that sense there is always a
danger of having some repercussions",
he added .
Courtesy:
www.zeenews.com, March 21, 2007
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About
50,000 KM of National Highway in
the country are being improved with
an investment of Rs 2,20,000 crore
to boost economic growth, Union
minister of state for road transport
Mr KH Muniyappa said today. "Our
vision and plan is to complete the
improvement and widening of the
highways by 2012," Mr Muniyappa,
currently on a visit to the state,
told reporters here. "This will
boost economic growth by one to
two per cent even as the smooth
highways will enable vehicles to
move at a speed of 120 KM/H." The
government's ambitious 5,846 KM
Golden Quadrilateral project is
almost 95 per cent complete, and
about 5,600 KM of the project are
being developed into six-lane highways.
The 7,300 KM corridors linking Silchar
and Porbandar and Srinagar and Kanyakumari
will be completed by 2008-09, he
said. The National Highway Development
Programme (NHDP) is being implemented
in seven different phases, and about
11,000 KM are being taken up under
Phases 3A and 3B. Work had already
begun on a total stretch of 4,000
KM. The detailed project report
is being finalised for the remaining
7,000 KM and this work will be completed
by 2009-10, he said. The NHDP also
includes development of 1,000 KM
of expressway in the country, Mr
Muniyappa said. The new projects
being undertaken, he said, included
about 550 KM of new highways in
Orissa for which the state government
must act fast to acquire land and
remove other hurdles. This relates
to six different roads that are
included in NHDP 3A and 3B. He said
the roads are Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimuli
(163 KM), Rimuli-Roxy extended up
to Rajamunda (106 KM), Duburi-Chandikhol
(39 KM), Chandikhol-Talcher (98
KM), Puri-Bhubaneswar (59 KM) and
Sambalpur-Bargarh extended up to
the Chhattisgarh border (88 KM).
The total cost of these projects
would be around Rs 2,500 crore and
tenders for them were being invited.
The Central government has also
sanctioned National Highway status
for four state highways in Orissa
in view of their economic importance.
They are the Khurda-Balangir (299
KM), Puri-Satpada (49 KM), Puri-Konark
(35 KM) and Champua- Rimuli (14
KM) roads. "The chief minister (Naveen
Patnaik) should take steps to expedite
these projects and we expect full
cooperation from the state government,"
he said. Mr Muniyappa, who attended
the bhumi puja for the improvement
of a 12 KM stretch of NH-217 in
Berhampur yesterday, said 434 KM
of the Golden Quadrilateral is in
Orissa, and the widening of these
highways to four lanes should have
been completed by December 2006.
While the widening of 326 KM of
NH-5 to four lanes had been completed
in Orissa, work on the balance portion
of the highway is expected to be
completed by December 2008, he said.
The delay in work is mainly due
to opposition from people who have
refused to part with land and the
matter has gone to court in several
cases, he said. "People must understand
the purpose behind this highway
development as it will strengthen
the economy and their own future,"
he said, adding that they are obstructing
these works because they have not
understood the purpose behind them.
The improvement and widening of
highways will reduce the requirement
of fuel by 30 to 35 per cent, lessen
travel time considerably and improve
the durability of vehicles, he said.
Courtesy:
www.thestatesman.net, March 18,
2007
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