[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 25 Mar: After much delay, the land issue affecting the progress of Arunachal’s first two-lane state highway, from Itanagar to Jote, has been resolved with the intervention of the panchayat leaders.
The work between Gohpur (Itanagar) and Moin village, measuring 6 kms, has not been started to date after landowners allegedly raised concern over the safety of their properties. They also alleged that the administration failed to take them into confidence while initiating the project.
The work on the remaining 14 kms, under the Papum Pare rural administration, is going on in full swing.
The 20-km-long Itanagar-Jote road has been taken up by the Doimukh PWD division. The project does not have a provision for land compensation and people have mostly donated land free of cost.
On Thursday, Batt-Ganga ZPM Taro Tagia chaired a meeting, which was attended by representatives of the land-affected committee, the IMC, the PRI and the PWD, besides the contractor. All the stakeholders who attended the meeting supported the project and called for early start of the work on this stretch.
“The construction should go ahead without damaging properties, especially buildings. The PWD and the contractor are requested to take up sufficient protection measures at all the vulnerable locations,” the participants said.
All of them agreed to cooperate with and support one another during the construction period.
The land-affected people, along with panchayat leaders and contractors, met ICR DC Talo Potom at his office on Friday evening.
Speaking to this daily, Potom said that the team had come to inform him about the decision arrived at in the meeting chaired by the ZPM. “It seems land-affected people and contractor have worked out a solution, and that work on Gohpur to Moin box is going to start soon,” said Potom.
Meanwhile, the contractor of the Itanagar-Jote road, Ngurang Changriang said that he will start work on this stretch from Sunday onwards.
“We have resolved all the issues, and if the weather permits, we are going to start the work from Sunday onwards. We have given the commitment to complete work by December 2022, but the land issue in between Gohpur and Moin village has somewhat affected the progress of work,” he said.
Changriang said that the work on the remaining 14-km stretch under the Papum Pare rural administration is going on smoothly. “I have received cooperation from the public as well as the administration. Also, if there is enough support from the state government in the form of regular flow of funds, this project will be completed on time by maintaining quality,” said Changriang.
The Itanagar-Jote state highway was announced by Chief Minister Pema Khandu while on a visit to the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Jote in 2016. Even though the NIT has shifted to its permanent campus in Jote, the pathetic condition of the Itanagar-Jote road continues to cause trouble in the proper functioning of the institute.
Besides the NIT, the state’s lone government law college and India’s third film & television institute are all located in the Jote area under Sangdupota circle of Papum Pare district.
The construction of the Itanagar-Jote road is being funded by the NABARD.
