JOWAI: Following years of delay in completion of the strategic Kurliya bridge that was aimed to connect the disputed Block I area in Jaintia Hills with Karbi Anglong district of Assam, the state government has cancelled the contract signed by the Public Works Department (PWD) and RB Associates Construction Company.
Despite several reminders from the PWD, the construction company had failed to complete the bridge despite taking up the construction work over a decade back creating inconvenience to the government as well as the general public.
“The Government has cancelled the contract and withdrawn the company from the construction work,” informed the PWD Superintendent Engineer (SE), Jowai Circle, while adding that fresh tender would be floated soon.
It may be mentioned that construction of the bridge was initiated in 2005. The project was Centrally-sponsored under the Inter-State Connectivity Schemes at an estimated cost of Rs.428.65 lakh sanctioned in 2003-04 to include an800-metre-long approach road on either end of the bridge.
In 2005, the construction work was allotted to RB Associates by the PWD, North Division, Jowai, but since then the construction work could never be completed despite repeated reminders by the PWD (Roads) and the pressure groups active in the district.
Several political leaders including the then PWD Minister, H.D.R. Lyngdoh and members of the State Planning Board had visited the construction site but the visits failed to yield the desired result as far as completion of the bridge was concerned.
Delay in construction of the bridge has severely affected residents of Block-I – both socially and economically – as the people in the area depend on agriculture for their livelihood and are unable to transport their produces either to the nearby local market at Sahsniang or to any other market in Jaintia Hills as no vehicle can cross the river and reach their area.
In terms of the health scenario in the area, several patients and pregnant women have died in the past as they could not be taken to the nearest PHC at Sahsniang in time due to the lack of road connectivity.
