In a move that could increase money in the pockets of people on whose land highways would be built, Road Ministry has asked States to expedite disbursement of ₹ 25,000 crore, which is meant to be distributed to landowners.

This was a part of discussion in the meeting that Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had with the Transport and PWD Ministers of various States on Tuesday.

States were asking for funds, it is learnt.

Two states that account for almost 40 per cent of total undisbursed money are Uttar Pradesh (₹ 4,847 crore) and Maharashtra (₹ 4,690 crore), said an official.

Acquiring land and disbursing money has its own set of challenges, which include finding the right owner, getting the right title deed among others.

States with the next highest chunk of undisbursed money are Tamil Nadu (₹ 2,425 crore) , Karnataka (₹ 2,082 crore) , Rajasthan (₹ 1,974 crore) and Bihar(₹ 1,906 crore) and Haryana (₹ 1,502 crore).

Gujarat (₹ 685 crore), Andhra Pradesh (₹ 647 crore), are followed by Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh who have about ₹ 500 crore to ₹ 450 crore pending for disbursal.

The next set of States are Uttarakhand, Delhi, Odisha and Punjab have about ₹200 crore each, that has to be disbursed.

Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, and West Bengal have about ₹150-100 crore to be disbursed.

Meanwhile, for constructing National Highways, the States have given permission for over 280 sites, a move which will ease the construction process. However, the exact construction would depend on labour and material availability, given that construction will have to happen within "social distancing norms", a huge challenge.

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