Police issue notice to PWD for collection of project documents
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 4: The Meghalaya Police, probing the alleged scam in the Shillong-Tura road project, issued a notice to the Public Works Department for the collection of documents related to the project.
Disclosing this, a source in the Police department said, “We have to go through a humongous volume of documents. Depending on our findings after we go through everything, we will issue summons to people.”
Stating that the case is “technical”, the source said if needed, the police will take the help of experts in the field of finance to get to the bottom of the case.
The source also said that although there is no hard and fast rule to submit the charge sheet within a specific timeframe, the police are trying their best to expedite the investigation.
In September, the state government had directed the police to probe the multi-crore rupees alleged scam. Nine individuals, including senior government engineers and officials from two private companies based in Telangana and Haryana, were named in the FIR.
The road connects Shillong with Tura via Nongstoin and Rongjeng. The project was approved in 2010 as part of the central government’s Special Road Development Programme-North East.
The project cost was initially estimated at Rs 1,303.83 crore. After several revisions, the cost was enhanced to Rs 2,366.77 crore. The project’s original completion date was scheduled for 2014.
The FIR was filed by PWD (NH) Chief Engineer AM Kharmawphlang, based on information revealed during arbitration proceedings conducted by the Arbitral Tribunal.