64km ‘Western Bypass’ to be built in MP, land to be acquired from 31 villages

MP News: Officials are causing delays in the work of a new bypass plan, created over two and a quarter years ago to improve traffic in Indore city, Madhya Pradesh. Despite approval and tender processes, the administration has handed over land from 5 villages to NHAI, but work has not yet commenced. Officials had claimed in October that work would begin within a month.

The construction of eastern and western outer bypasses is proposed due to the current bypass being overloaded. The western bypass received approval in June 2023. Land acquisition began in March 2024 with a tender of ₹1880 crore. The contract for the 64 km western bypass has been awarded to an Ahmedabad-based company. The road construction cost is divided into two phases: ₹996 crore and ₹884 crore. Despite the tender being awarded over a year and a half ago, land acquisition is yet to be completed.

Work to begin from Pithampur

According to NHAI, the lands to be acquired have been identified after the publication of Sections 3-A and 3-D. The road will start from Pithampur for eight kilometres. Subsequently, the road will pass through Depalpur for 12 km, Hatod for 20 km, and Sanwer for 14 km. A total of 600 hectares of land from 31 villages needs to be acquired for the bypass construction.

Land from Jaitpura, Mundla Hussain, Dhaturia, Brahman Peeplya, and one other village has already been handed over to NHAI. More land from some villages will be acquired this week. Due to the slow pace of work by officials, the construction of this important road has not started for a long time. NHAI Project Director Praveen Yadav stated, "We are receiving land in parts. We will start the work next month."