By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 11: The High Court of Meghalaya has restricted further felling of trees for the purpose of Package-I of Shillong-Dawki road project till such time that the work under Package-1 is awarded to a contractor, and the contractor is able to take up the construction unimpeded.
During the hearing of a public interest litigation, a status report was filed by the state through its Joint Secretary in the Public Works (R&B) Department on Monday.
The petition filed in public interest pertains to the felling of trees in Shillong as part of Package-1 of the Shillong-Dawki road project, which is divided in five packages.
According to the status report, the technical evaluation of bids is under process and the work for the first package has not yet been allotted after the previous contractor abandoned the project.
Interestingly, even if the contractor were to be appointed, the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) is evidently unwilling to part with any land and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited has opined that it is not possible to change the alignment at this stage to avoid any land being taken from the observatory of the IIG.
In this regard, the court said even if the contractor were to be appointed, till the IIG relents, work under Package-1 cannot be undertaken seriously.
Whereas the other packages are faced with many other problems such as the the landowners and though some work in the undisputed areas has been carried on, it does not appear that any of the packages is ready for work being taken up or the requisite work being delivered.
“In such view of the matter, the further felling of trees for the purpose of Package-1 should not be carried out till such time that the work under Package-1 is awarded to a contractor and the contractor is able to take up the construction unimpeded, including near the observatory of the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism,” the Court said.