TURA, April 12: Almost six years since the ball was set rolling for its construction, the Tura-Dalu road project is far from complete.
Construction of the project, which falls under NHIDCL, had begun in early 2018 and till the filing of this report, only 55 per cent of the road is complete.
The Tura-Dalu road, despite being part of the NH-51, was one of the worst roads in Meghalaya.
Commuting on the road earlier required guts of steel as the road was not only riddled with potholes but was also extremely narrow.
A 50-km drive from Tura and Dalu earlier required almost two hours.
A loud cheer went up in the town of Dalu following the NHIDCL’s announcement about the project worth over Rs 500 crore. However, the same cheer that was seen on the faces of the border population was short-lived due to the delay in the completion of the road project.
Initially, the project was awarded to a contractor from Assam, Manoranjan Brahma. However, the company was extremely slow in its work, leading to complaints coming from various quarters. Not only was the company awarded the route between Tura and Dalu, another 10-11 km on the NH-51 between Tura and Rongram was also awarded to them.
The contractor had initially attributed the delay to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the COVID-19 scare gone, the progress has continued to remain slow.
With the original contractor unable to continue work for unknown reasons, another company, ARSS, was brought in about a year ago to complete the project sometime last year. While progress is now being seen in the road, many still feel that enough is not being done to ensure the road is completed quickly and provides relief for those that are now desperate for it.
“We only took over last year and are working extremely hard to complete the road at the earliest. However, complications have arisen as some section of the road has begun to sink. A NHIDCL team was here earlier and took samples of these areas for research. If we get another month, there will be drastic progress made on the road,” claimed an officer of ARSS when contacted.
He further added that land acquisition is yet to be completed as some people have approached the court due to the quantum of compensation paid by the state.
In other cases, many landowners have taken the compensation but have not vacated their land to allow for construction. He informed that the problem being faced is between the 85-90 km section – in about 4 kms.
“We are making efforts and wherever we are able to, we have progressed. Hopefully, we will get the road up quickly,” he added.
However, what is to be noted is the fact that the Tura-Rongram section has hardly been touched and given the complexities involved, the project completion could take eons of time.
NHIDCL representatives, however, could not be contacted for comment on the issue.
“How can a National Highway project actually take so long when it is only about 50 kms in length? Blame has to go to everyone who is involved in the project including the department, the contractor as well as the government for not paying heed to the needs of the people. The NHIDCL also should be questioned as to why it has allowed such huge delays in the project when it could have been done within 2 years. It’s really baffling and we are the ones suffering for their carelessness,” said a Dalu resident when spoken to.
Others too echoed the same thoughts.
