Annex 3 Justification for locating the project in forest area

Road Construction Department (RCD), Government of , seeks the services of qualified firms for preparing a Detailed Project Report for “Consultancy services for preparation of Detailed project report for Strengthening and Widening / Re construction of NH-98 from km 25.600 to km 79.147 to be upgraded into Four/Two lane with paved shoulder including replacement of culverts and bridges”. However after submission of first draft report, as suggested by client, the project road was divided into two parts i.e. 1. Km 25.600 to Km 57.000 2. Km 57.000 to Km 79.147 As a policy decision conveyed through minutes of meeting dated 06.01.2017, it was taken a view by Member (P) NHAI that since the traffic in the stretch from km 29.845 to km 57.009 qualifies for four lanes therefore the consultants may review it for the feasibility of four lanes. Currently, the road section is having two lane flexible pavement with carriageway width 7.0 m. The earthen shoulders is generally varying from 0.5 m to 1.2 m. At some places it is less than 0.5 m also. Based on the present alignment, the widening of existing road for and Chhatarpur town is not possible due to built-up areas and less availability of land, therefore bypass has been proposed for Hariharganj town and Chhatarpur town. As informed by the concerned department officials, the existing ROW is varying from 16.0 m to 39.0 m along the project road. There are some encroachments in the project road area. The alignment passes through many settlement areas. As per the detailed project report, there are 13 nos. of built-up areas (towns and villages). The major towns are Hariharganj and Chhatarpur. The existing alignment is generally conforming to IRC standards. It requires improvement of horizontal curves. It is observed that there are sharp horizontal curves in abadi portions, which need improvements. Lack of proper sight distance is also found at some curve locations. For the requirement of connectivity of Palamu district to Aurangabad district, NHAI has proposed to Strength and Widening/Re-construction of NH-98 from Km. 23.284 to Km. 57.041 to be upgraded into Four lane including replacement of culverts and bridges in Jharkhand and States. The proposed project is started from Pola village which is falling in Aurangabad district and end in Shildag village which is falling in Palamu district. About 45 nos. Villages are affected where 7 nos. villages are from Aurangabad district and remaining 38 nos. villages are from Palamu district. The proposal is only for Palamu district and for Forest Division, Palamu and Jharkhand. 3(A) has been prepared and signed by Competent Authority of Land Acquisition (CALA), Palamu on 10.02.2018 for 142.3433 ha of land where 103.3921 ha of land is private, 27.2428 ha of government land, 7.3117 ha of protected forest land and 4.3967 ha of revenue forest land respectively. Village-wise area or land-use of the project area has been summarized and enclosed as Annex 1. Annex 3 In view of the above, it is proposed to divert 11.7084 Ha of forest land for non-forestry use where 7.3117 ha of protected forest land and 4.3967 ha of revenue forest land respectively, so that the present alignment can be smoothened and widened for easy transportation to Aurangabad.