By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In contrary to the claim of Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma that the Shillong by pass will be ready for inauguration within December, PWD Minister HDR Lyngdoh told the Assembly on Thursday that only 70 percent works have been completed.
“National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) can not complete the work within December”, PWD Minister said while replying to a question tabled by Paul Lyngdoh (UDP).
According to the Minister, till date, the progress of the work was only 70 per cent and more time would be needed to complete the project.
“The stipulated time for completion of the work is February, 2014,” he added.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had claimed that the project would be ready for inauguration a year ahead of the scheduled time of completion.
James Sangma (NCP) wanted to know why the Chief Minister made the statement without assessing the ground reality.
According to the PWD Minister, during his meeting with the NHAI officials on November 6, the Chief Minister had requested the NHAI authorities to try and complete work within December “so that the road can be dedicated to the people of the State.”
In a supplementary, Paul Lyngdoh brought to the notice of the Government that the land owners and the KSU are aggrieved over the delay in paying compensation to those affected by the project.
The Minister, however, clarified that it was the farmers who were deprived of compensation due to the damage to the crops and not the land owners.
“We have already paid compensation to the land owners, but there is a demand from the farmers to pay compensation due to the damage to the crops during the construction work carried out by the NHAI,” Lyngdoh said.
While the damage to the agriculture produce is Rs 41.94 lakh, Rs 47.49 lakh is the projected as compensation for the damage to horticulture products.
Lyngdoh said the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner had already written to NHAI that they should pay the compensation within this year. ECB Bamon (NCP) wanted to know who is supervising the Shillong bypass work as there are views from several quarters that NHAI has expertise only in earth cutting.The Minister could not reply to this query as the time for Question Hour had already lapsed.