SHILLONG, June 23: Government infrastructure projects crumbling and suffering damages or developing cracks due to shoddy construction is common in Meghalaya.
The PA Sangma Stadium in Tura is the latest addition to the list of projects suffering damages. The retaining wall of the stadium has collapsed due to heavy rains.
Earlier, questions were raised over the manner in which the project was constructed. Questions were also raised by people, BJP and a Central minister when the NPP-led MDA government hurriedly inaugurated the unfinished project ahead of Assembly elections.
Over the past few years, several infrastructure projects in the state suffered damages.
On May 22 last year, the steel dome of the under-construction Meghalaya Assembly building at New Shillong Township had collapsed. Overweight and lack of coordination between agencies and contractors executing the project were cited as the main reasons behind the disaster.
It is still not known if any action was taken against the contractors. One year has elapsed since but the project is far from over.
Prior to this incident, images of the cracked walls and leaked roofs of newly-constructed Shillong ISBT at Mawiong had left the government embarrassed and it quickly fixed the problems.
A portion of the bridge at the Mawlai bypass had also caved in due to heavy downpours. Later, the bridge was repaired. The next project to suffer damage was the newly-constructed Patharkhmah Model Degree College which was built at a cost of Rs 11.01 crore. It had developed cracks.
Two months ago, an under-construction bridge at Moolichah village in Khliehmuchut of West Jaintia Hills district collapsed, forcing a pressure group to lodge an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The footbridge was being built across a fish sanctuary under a project of the Soil and Water Conservation Department.
The Sonapur bridge in East Jaintia Hills, which connects Meghalaya with southern Assam’s Barak valley besides Tripura and Manipur, and the Dwar-Ksuid bridge along the Shillong Bypass had also developed cracks.
