(a) whether the Government proposes to connect all the State capitals by four laning of roads;
(b) if so, the details thereof and survey conducted in this regard;
(c) whether relaxation has been made in the norms to construct roads in hilly areas;
(d) if so, the position of four laning for Shimla from Parwanoo; and
(e) the number of people likely to be dislodged by such projects?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI KRISHANPAL GURJAR)
(a) and (b) After completion of Phase-III of National Highways Development Project (NHDP) and Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North-Eastern region (SARDP-NE) most of the State capitals except a few in North Eastern Region will have connectivity through four-lane National Highways (NHs).
(c) NHs are built as per the Ministrys specification for Road and Bridge Works, code of practice of Indian Road Congress (IRC) and Ministrys circulars issued from time to time. The standards & specifications for hill roads are different from roads in plain area.
(d) It has been decided to take up 4-laning of Shimla-Parwanoo section of NH-22 on Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) mode.
(e) About 650 structure are likely to be dismantled for the above project.