SHILLONG: The Sordar of Dorbar Shnong Smit Pyllun, Marbatstar Kharbyngar, has written to the Chief Engineer, State Sports Council, seeking resumption of construction of the Indoor Stadium at Laitdiengwah, Smit, which has been halted since November last year and not due to COVID-19 issues, as pointed by the Chief Engineer.
Kharbyngar filed an RTI, the copy of which is available with The Shillong Times, where he queried about the resumption of the construction activities. The chief engineer, in his reply, said that work cannot be resumed due to the COVID-19 situation.
However, in his counterargument, Kharbyngar said that the construction activity was not stopped because of COVID-19.
The Sordar of Smit, in the letter, has urged the chief engineer to instruct the concerned construction company/contractor to resume work as it is the right season to do so. “It is understood that there might be some technical arrangement problems; and for this, I am of the opinion that a month’s time would be more than enough for prompting up before the next step of action will be taken by me and all the stakeholders,” Kharbyngar wrote.
The chief engineer, in his reply to the RTI, said the construction work started on September, 2019, and the contract was given to M/s J.C Infra.
The chief engineer said that the stadium was built to provide indoor sporting facilities and the total cost of the project is Rs 22.75 crore while progress of work is still being ascertained.
He added that till date no payment was released to the contractor. In reply to a query as to when will the work be resumed, the official said that the work cannot be restarted due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The State Sports Council had signed an agreement with the land donor, Edarstar Lyngdoh Nongbri, on August 24, 2018. The plot of land at Laitdiengwah is approximately 8 acres.
Kharbyngar had earlier written to the Commissioner and Secretary of Sports in July and the Director of Sports and Youth Affairs in August to draw the attention of the officials to the stoppage of work for the indoor stadium.