New Delhi:A 60 kilometre-long stretch of Greenfield highway will be constructed in Rajasthan under the Bharatmala Pariyojana to ensure high speed traffic movement between Delhi and Mumbai.
The highway will be developed as an underground passageway passing through the Mukundra Hill Tiger Reserve.
A source from the Ministry of Environment said the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), in its meeting headed by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, earlier this month, recommended the proposal of National Highway Authority India (NHAI) for development of eight lanes Greenfield Highway which will stretch from Bhenda Hera village to Moondiya village section of the highway in Rajasthan.
The Greenfield highway will be a 59.6 km long tunnel passing through the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.
The proposed highway is part of Bharatmala project and will connect several towns like Gurgaon, Alwar, Bharatpur, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk, Bundi, Kota, Jaora, Ratlam etc. and give an infrastructure fillip to the states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the ministry source said.
The highway will be access-controlled and ensure high-speed traffic movement from Delhi to Mumbai.
The proposed alignment is selected to cover one of the most important North-South arterial connectivity in the country, further interspersed with feeder highways on its either sides.