PATNA, May 11 -- West Bengal's reluctance to accept the proposed alignment of Raxaul-Haldia expressway has stalled execution of the much-awaited high speed corridor, connecting Nepal and Haldia sea port in West Bengal via Bihar and Jharkhand. The 700-km-long six-lane greenfield expressway was proposed as one of the high speed corridors across the country last year. The Central government had proposed to construct high speed corridors in the length of 5,000 km across the country. Raxaul-Haldia is the 2nd high speed corridor to pass through Bihar after Gorakhpur-Silliguri expressway, whose alignment was approved by the Centre in March this year. A senior officer of the road construction department (RCD), Bihar, said that their regular bids to get the alignment of Raxaul-Haldia expressway has been shrugged off by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) owing to West Bengal government's dilly-dallying to the alignment proposed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in the state. The project is important as it will connect Nepal via Bihar and Jharkhand to Haldia port in West Bengal. The expressway is proposed to reach Haldia via Medinipur and Bardhman districts. "All our efforts to expedite work on the Rs.60,000 crore project were shrugged off by the Centre owing to non-availability of consent from the West Bengal government. The Centre wanted to clear alignment of the whole project," said a senior officer of Bihar government. Recently, a team of officials of the RCD, Bihar and Jharkhand along with local NHAI officials had met with the Secretary, MoRTH, on April 20 in New Delhi and almost finalised the alignments in the two states. "West Bengal's public works department (PWD) officials have their reservations about the expressway's alignment. However, the MoRTH has in-principle agreed to approve Bihar's alignment and we are awaiting minutes of the meeting to launch the land acquisition," said the officer. Regional officer (RO), Patna, NHAI, NL Yeotkar said that the process for land acquisition would commence once the formal approval for Bihar's section of alignment is cleared. "There is no issue with alignment of the expressway in Bihar," added Yeotkar. The Raxaul-Haldia expressway was first mulled in 2018 as part of Bharatmala project with its alignment, passing through Banka, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Begusarai, Samastipur, (Sarfuddinpur, Hathauri, Olipur, Ratanpur Ratan), Muzaffarpur,(Narwara), Sheohar and (Chak Nagri, Pakridayal, Khatri East, Lakhaura, Narkatia, Raxaul), East Champaran in Bihar. The road enters Jharkhand in Dumka and is proposed to enter West Bengal through Dumka, Deoghar and Jamtara in Jharkhand. Principal secretary, RCD, Jharkhand Sunil Kumar, said that they have no issue with the expressway's alignment proposed by the NHAI. However, secretary, PWD, West Bengal, Antara Acharya, could not be reached for her comments despite repeated attempts....