As the state enters the month of August, the monsoon season will slowly start to recede. The period from October to March is considered to be the best to take up construction projects, especially road projects. Therefore, the initiative of Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday to review all the road projects in the state, especially the Itanagar-Naharlagun highway and all the sectoral roads in the capital, is a welcome step. Such review meetings should in fact be held on a monthly basis to review the progress of work.
Certain targets should be set for the construction agencies by the department. During the review meeting, their performances should be analyzed and action initiated if they fail to meet the targets. The state government in particular needs to speed up the work on NH 415. The four-lane work is going on very slowly. The state capital is the gateway to the state and therefore the roads, including highways and sector roads, will have to be top class. There should not be any compromise with the quality of work. As the monsoon starts to recede, the construction agency should be asked to speed up the work. The people of the Itanagar capital region are suffering because of the poor condition of the highway as well as the sectoral roads.