SHILLONG: Yet again, an anniversary to remember the non-completion of the new Assembly building!
It was on January 9, 2001 that the heritage Assembly building at Police Bazar was gutted by a devastating fire.
Seventeen years later, there is no progress on the construction of the new Assembly building.
The last decision of the government was to cancel the tender fixed by PWD for the construction of the building at Mawdiandiang, outskirts of Shillong.
The reason cited by the High Power Committee to cancel the tender during its meeting in November last was that the lowest bidder, Gautam Construction Pvt Ltd would not be able to construct the new building at the cost of Rs 105 crore.
The PWD was asked to call a fresh tender.
Firm does not know reason
Gautam Construction Pvt Ltd is yet to know the reason for the termination of the tender process.
A functionary of the construction company said though the government was free to exercise its discretion, the reason should have been cited in writing.
Sources questioned the role of the PWD in not properly verifying the background of the companies before finalising the tender.
The sources said the delay could have been avoided if the PWD had scrutinized the matter properly.
Poll hurdle for fresh tender
On the eve of the anniversary of destruction of 125-year-old Assembly, Speaker AT Mondal, who tried to his best to start the project, admitted that the construction of new Assembly was delayed due to the issues related to the lowest bidder.
He said with polls round the corner, there would be further delay in taking a decision to call a fresh tender.
Neighbouring states ahead
While Meghalaya is still waiting for the construction of the new Assembly, neighbouring states like Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh got new Assembly buildings within a short period of time.
The hurdles in the past were due to the delay in choosing a site for the Assembly and at least two sites were abandoned after laying the foundation stones.
In the past, the CAG had also indicted the Assembly for starting construction at Mawdiangdiang without following norms, thereby incurring additional expenditure.
