PM’s intervention sought on two road projects

SHILLONG: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was apprised of the condition of two important roads schemes in Meghalaya.
The Achik Indigenous Justice Initiative Forum (AIJIF), in a letter to the Prime Minister on Sunday, said that the Forum received an e-mail from NEC on April 28, regarding a brief note sent to the DoNER Ministry on April 7 highlighting the updates about Agia –Medhipara- Phulbari- Tura, road (AMPT road) and the Mahendraganj–Mankachar road (MM road) funded by DoNER Ministry.
The Forum said that taking note of the pitiable condition of the AMPT and the MM roads, a memorandum was submitted on March 1 to Prime Minister with a copy to the DoNER Minister and the Chief Minister.
The DoNER Ministry expressed concern and replied that the matter of the AMPT and the MM Roads had been referred to the NEC for examination. The NEC in its brief note on the AMPT and the MM road explained their status to DoNER on April 7.
“In the note the NEC mentioned a place named Medhipathar which on the ground doesn’t exist. It would have been Medhipara but the NEC mentioned it as Medhipathar to Tura road. Several blunders like this were made by the NEC in the note submitted to the PMO”, the Forum said.
According to the Forum, there is no such road as Medhipathar in Tura and it can be termed as ghost road falsely created.
“Such road doesn’t exist and was never questioned. This is a serious concern which displays the incompetency and poor credibility of the NEC as the note sent to the most respected office of the country that is the PMO have many mistake and even false names of roads have been mentioned”, the Forum added.
The NEC had also mentioned that after getting the completion certificate and utilisation certificate of the MM road, the final installment in case of Meghalaya was released on June 3, 2016, but the condition of the MM road despite the submission of utilisation certificate remained deplorable and hence it raises a question on the credibility of the PWD department on the issuance of the utilisation certificate and completion certificate without taking note of the ground reality, the Forum said.
According to the Forum, the shoddy work done in the AMPT and the MM roads has been brought before the district administration and concerned authorities, but no action has been taken till date.