PWD fails to clear bills of implementing company
NONGSTOIN: After being derailed by the delay in preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) and land acquisition hurdles, the Nongstoin-Rambrai-Kyrshai road project now faces a new roadblock due to the delay of the construction company in submitting the DPR to the PWD National Highways Division.
It was learned that the progress of the two lane Nongstoin-Rambrai-Kyrshai road sanctioned under the Special Accelerated Road Programme (SARP) has been approved by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highway on September 25, 2015, after preparation of the DPR by Holtec Company, based in Gurgaon.
Official sources said the company has completed the DPR but is yet to submit the same to the PWD NH Division.
Sources also informed that land acquisition has not been started since the company has not yet submitted the DPR.
When The Shillong Times queried the company officials on the reason behind non submission of the DPR to the PWD NH, the company officials said the PWD is yet to make payments for preparation of the DPR and the survey work.
It was learnt that after the land acquisition is completed, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highway will issue an open tender in Delhi after which work will commence.
When local MLA K.P. Pangniang was contacted, he claimed that he had on three occasions moved motions in the State legislative Assembly demanding that the PWD should clear the bills of the company which had undertaken the work for preparation of the DPR but there was no response from either the PWD or from the government.
Meanwhile, local residents of Rambrai and Kyrshai, bordering Assam, have urged the State government to speed up the paper work for the road project claiming that they have been suffering in silence for the last four decades nurturing a dream of seeing a good motorable road.
Locals claim that during medical emergencies, the villagers have to carry the ailing patients on foot and walk for 10 to 11 hours to reach Rambrai PHC. There have been several occasions when fatalities have occurred on the way to hospital. “These incidents are a common occurrence but no one is willing to take up the responsibility or even consider our problems,” one of the villagers said.