Jan 9 : Scathing warnings from an infuriated minister, public wrath or graft allegations — nothing, it seems, can goad the Dibrugarh PWD to mend its ways. Most of the roads around the town are muddy, potholed stretches in desperate need of a coat of asphalt. While rains and river cause annual damage in the flood-prone district, the PWD adds insult to injury. So pathetic is the condition of roads that PWD minister Ajanta Neog, during a recent visit to the town, warned of “stern action against all the erring officials and contractors who are found guilty of anomalies in road construction projects”. The unholy nexus between officials and contractors, however, continues, with most terming the minister’s caution as just a “verbal utterance”. A majority of the road network in Dibrugarh town is “looked after” by the district’s rural road division, which, residents say, prefers to turn a blind eye to the goings-on. Repairs on the Phulbagan-Thana Charali-Chowkidingee-Doordarshan Kendra Road, for instance, have been so slow that residents were preparing to launch an agitation. The government sanctioned Rs 94 lakh under the flood damage repair scheme for the project but little has been done so far. “The huge volume of dust resulting from the road repair materials at the site is causing breathing trouble for people living on the fringes. We have no other way but to hit the streets and begin an agitation,” Niren Hazarika, a resident, said. A source in the department said the project was allotted to Rajesh Shah, a contractor of the department, who has allegedly been delaying the work on the pretext of escalating prices. There have been allegations that the contractor was also compromising on the quality of work. “Junior engineer Ruhini Gogoi, who is in charge of ensuring that the quality of construction is not compromised, has preferred to keep mum on the issue,” a source alleged. The executive engineer of the division, Ajit Bhuyan, while admitting to the tardy progress of work, said, “There are strict orders to the contractor to complete the work at the earliest”. “We will also investigate the matter of ‘quality’ and take necessary action if any official is found to be guilty,” Bhuyan added. Despite the allegations, the engineer promised that Dibrugarh town would get a new look in March, once the Rs 8-crore road-cum-drain construction project under the additional central assistance scheme is completed. |
