Lawyer slams PWD for delaying road project

SHILLONG: A young advocate from Umkiang village in East Jaintia Hills, who had earlier flagged the issue of dilapidated roads in the district, has condemned the chief engineer of the PWD (roads) for failing to obtain environment clearance for a road project that was supposed to start in 2012.
In a statement issued here, Amse said the poor road condition in border villages of the district has even prompted the National Human Rights Commission to order the state government to act.
He informed that the NEC had on several occasions requested the PWD (roads) to obtain necessary clearance from all departments so that it could sanction the Rymbai-Borkhar-Jalalpur road project.
The road will connect Huroi, Hingaria, Lailong and Lejri.
Amse has shot off a letter to the chief secretary on the issue.
The Rymbai-Borkhat-Jalalpur road was proposed in 2011 by the PWD (roads) at the cost of Rs 97.94 crore.
“It is sad, discouraging and unprofessional on the part of the office of the chief engineer, PWD (roads) that they have applied for Environment Clearance to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, the Department of Forest and Environment (SEIAA), for as many as eight times between the year 2011-2016,” Amse said.
The SEIAA had informed about the defects of the applications and also suggested changes the PWD (roads) fail to make the application as required and therefore rejected several times.
Last year, the SEIAA asked PWD to hire specialised 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 (roads) awarded this task to Enviro Infra Solutions Private Limited against an amount of Rs 21.44 lakhs.
But even after hiring the consultant, the proposal made to the SEIAA was returned 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.
But even after the submissions from the application to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for necessary clearance, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, 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.