In a startling revelation, the All Arunachal Contractors’ Welfare Association (AACWA) on Thursday accused the state government of dropping several highly important infrastructure projects meant for the state capital from the revised estimate 2020-21. The projects include bypass roads and bridges which are very important to ease traffic congestion in the state capital. The allegation levelled by the AACWA is very serious and the state government is answerable. The capital region is the gateway to the state and the government is duty bound to improve road infrastructure in the capital.
Over the last few years, the Itanagar capital region (ICR) has been battling serious traffic problems. Lack of alternative roads and the burden on NH 415 have increased the traffic congestion. There is an urgent need to construct more bypass roads and new bridges to ease congestion on NH 415. It is unfortunate that the projects which were planned to make life better in the capital region have been dropped. It is understandable that due to Covid-19 situation there is an issue of fund constraint. But still, dropping of several projects at one go does not augur well. The government should have retained some projects, especially those where the work has already started. It was informed that many of the projects which have been dropped have already been tendered and in some cases the work also started. The state government should rethink the decision and take corrective measures.