SHILLONG: A young advocate from Umkiang village, East Jaintia Hills, Kynjaimon Amse condemned the carelessness and negligence of the Office of Chief Engineer PWD(R), pertaining to the Rymbai-Borkhar-Jalalpur road which passes through the border villages namely Huroi, Hingaria, Lailong and Lejri.
In a statement issued here, he reiterated that deplorable road condition in the villages had even prompted the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to order the state government to look into the matter.
The Rymbai-Borkhat-Jalalpur road project which was proposed in the year 2011 by the PWD(R) at the cost of Rs. 97.94 crore to the North Eastern Council (NEC) was supposed to take off in the year 2012.
He added that the North Eastern Council (NEC) had many times requested the PWD(R) to obtain the necessary clearance from all department concerned so that NEC can accord sanction to the project.
“It is very sad, discouraging and unprofessional on the part of the office of the Chief Engineer, PWD(R) that they have applied for Environment Clearance the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Department of Forest and Environment(SEIAA), for as many as 8 times between the year 2011-2016,” Amse said.
The SEIAA informed about the defects of the applications and also suggested changes, the PWD(R) failed to make in the application as required and therefore rejected several times.
The SEIAA in the year 2017 asked the PWD(R) to hire specialized agency to assist the PWD(R) in drafting and making the application for Environment Clearance / Terms of Reference (TOR) before it.
Following this direction, the Office of Chief Engineer PWD(R) awarded this task to Enviro Infra Solutions Private Limited against an amount of Rs 21.44 lakhs.
But even after hiring the above stated consultant to acquire the necessary clearance, the proposal made to the SEIAA was returned back to the government due to shortcomings and the PWD was directed to apply for the clearance to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.
But even after the PWD(R) submitted the application to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,Government of India for necessary clearance, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change ,Government of India returned and rejected the application of the PWD(R) recently on March 6, 2018 because the PWD failed to make the application in the correct format and order as required by law.
Amse expressed concern that the then state government could not secure environment clearance even after 8 years since the project was proposed.
He raised questions on why the PWD failed to get clearance after spending more than 21 lakhs and also on the delay in getting the clearance.
Amse has shot off a letter of complaint to the state Chief Secretary to highlight the matter.