Labourers driven away from construction site
JOWAI: Just weeks after construction of the much-awaited Kurliya bridge over Myntang river at Tiehwieh resumed, Assam Police personnel forcibly stopped the construction work stating that the construction site falls under the disputed Block I bordering West Karbi Anglong and West Jaintia Hills districts.
Local police and residents of Khatkasla village informed that construction work was going on in full swing until February 24 when Assam Police personnel came to the construction site in three or four vehicles and forcibly stopped all work.
The Assam Police personnel from Jrikyndeng PS also served a notice to the PWD contractor, Pyrkhat Hinge, asking him to immediately stop the ongoing construction work alleging that the place falls under the disputed Block I area.
Following the incident, the contractor lodged a complaint with the district administration and also filed an FIR at Raliang Outpost on Tuesday. Immediately, Additional Deputy Commissioner, West Jaintia Hills and Superintendent of Police R. Muthu visited the construction site to ascertain the facts after which the district administration intimated the matter to the State government, response to which is awaited.
Again on Wednesday, the Block Development Officer, Laskein C&RD Block, along with the in charge of Raliang Outpost and his team visited the construction site and found that all the labourers had left the place. The local residents claimed that Assam Police personnel had come to the site early Wednesday morning and forced the labourers to leave the site.
The locals further claimed that Assam Police from Mukoilum and Jrikyndeng PS have been making frequent rounds of the site to ensure that the construction had completely stopped.
Meanwhile, members of JSU and JYF visited the construction site on Wednesday and alleged that the construction site of the bridge over Myntang river was beyond the disputed Block I. They claimed that Assam Police and the West Karbi Anglong District Administration had illegally encroached into Meghalaya and asked the Meghalaya PWD to stop the construction work.
“We demand that the Meghalaya government should immediately solve the issue for the welfare of the people residing in Khatkasla, Psiar and others areas in the non-disputed or disputed Block I,” they added.
Meanwhile, JSU president, Rikut N Parien, who is also the general secretary of the Pangam-Raliang Border Development Committee, averred that if the government is unable to resolve the matter and resume construction of the bridge, the Committee along with the local residents will take matters into their own hands.
It may be mentioned that construction of the famous Kurliya bridge was initiated in 2005. The construction work was allotted to RB Associate Construction Company by the State PWD. However, the company failed to complete the construction work by 2015 as agreed upon following which the State government cancelled the contract with the company and allotted the project to PWD contractor Pyrkhat Hinge.
The bridge project is Centrally-sponsored under the Inter-State Connectivity Schemes at an estimated cost of Rs 428.65 lakh sanctioned in 2003-04 to include an 800-metre-long approach road on either end of the bridge.
