Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 24 Feb: In embarrassing news for the state government, the contractor of Arunachal’s first state highway – the Itanagar-Jote two-lane highway – has threatened to stop all construction activities until the state government allocates adequate funds to the PWD against the project.
In a communication to the PWD chief engineer, the contractor informed that the he would be forced to stop work if the funding is not done properly.
Speaking to this daily, contractor Ngurang Changriang said that, “with a lot of sadness,” he is being forced to stop work due to the failure of the finance department to provide enough funds to continue the work.
“Out of 20 kilometres, the earth-cutting is almost on the verge of completion in 14 km stretch. GSB laying has been completed for 9 km and works on culverts are also progressing at full pace. The project is worth Rs 88 crores. We have already spent more than Rs 30 crores on the project. The fund released is simply not enough to continue the work,” said Changriang.
The NABARD released the first installment of Rs 25 crores against the project to the state government in 2021 itself. “Even though we are working in loss, the state government at least should pay us Rs 25 crores released by NABARD. We cannot continue work in this kind of situation. This is a massive project and unless there is smooth fund flow, the work cannot continue,” Changriang added.
He further said that the people of Sangdupota circle voluntarily donated land for the construction of this highway. “We wanted to set an example for the entire state. All the people of Sangdupota circle supported us, due to which we could complete the majority of the earth-cutting work on 14 km stretch without any major difficulty. But sadly, there is no support from the finance department. We are still hoping that they provide adequate funds,” said Changriang.
Apart from the funding problem, the land compensation issue in between Itanagar and Moin has also affected work in the first 6 km stretch of the project. The RoW has not been cleared in this stretch, which comes under the Itanagar Capital Region.
The Itanagar-Jote state highway is the pet project of Chief Minister Pema Khandu. During a visit to the NIT in Jote in 2016, he had announced this project after the officials of the NIT informed him that, due to the poor condition of the Itanagar-Jote road, the institute is not functioning properly.
The NIT Jote shifted to its permanent campus last year after the PWD assured to complete the Itanagar-Jote state highway at the earliest.
Meanwhile, officials of the NIT have expressed serious concern over the report of stopping of the highway work. “We managed to convince students to shift to the permanent campus, promising them that the two-lane highway would be completed soon. The government of India is also constantly taking updates as many students have written to it regarding the poor condition of the Itanagar-Jote road. We appeal to Chief Minister Pema Khandu to personally look into the matter and ensure that the highway is completed at the earliest,” said an official of NIT Jote.
Meanwhile, Planning Commissioner Prashant Lokhande said that there are no fund constraints. “I don’t think funds will be a constraint as it is funded under RIDF. Maybe there is some serious communication gap. This is a phase-wise project and everyone knows it,” he said.
