[ Bengia Ajum ]
MIAO, 27 Mar: With barely a few days left for the 31 March deadline set by Chief Minister Pema Khandu for the completion of the 157-km-long Miao-Vijaynagar (MV) road in Changlang district, the authorities are now scrambling to make the road motorable up to Gandhigram, locally known as Shidi by the Yobin community.
Khandu, while on a visit to remote Vijaynagar circle on 25 March last year, had assured the local people that he would ensure the completion of the MV road by 31 March, 2022. Since then, much progress has been made, but the road is yet to reach Vijaynagar.
The MV road has been divided into five packages, and the majority of the works under Packages 1, 2, and 3 are almost complete. It is Package 4 (38 Mile to Gandhigram) and Package 5 (Gandhigram to Vijaynagar) which are taking time to be completed. The RWD, which is implementing the project, has assured to make the road motorable up to Gandhigaram and said that effort is being made to complete the work up to Vijaynagar.
“In Part 4, major bridges have been completed, except the 80 and 84 Miles nallah bridges. The abutment works in these two bridges started a couple of weeks ago. The pavement work has almost been completed up to Gandhigram and only a few kilometres are left. As such, the progress of work is in full swing now. However, the recent rain has somewhat affected the work progress,” said RWD AE T Padung.
Regarding Part 5 (Gandhigaram to Vijaynagar), which is 16 kms long, he said “the pavement work is going on from Vijayanagar and has reached up to Ramnagar village.”
“Abutment of two major bridges in Part 5 has been completed and work on another abutment is going on. The steel materials have been procured and have reached the site for launching,” he added.
The AE said that the majority of culvert works have been completed and work on the remaining culverts is progressing smoothly. Further, he said that the officials of the RWD are regularly camping at the construction site to ensure completion of the project on time.
“The worksite is very sensitive from the security point of view. We are regularly in touch with local police and take their inputs while conducting field visits,” the AE said.
He added that, if weather permits, the road will be made motorable up to Vijaynagar by 30 April.
The major portion of the MV road passes through the Namdapha Tiger Reserve, due to which the National Tiger Conservation Authority has refused to grant permission for blacktopping a large part of this road.
Tali in Kra Daadi district and Vijaynagar in Changlang are two circle headquarters in Arunachal Pradesh which are yet to be connected by proper roads.
The CM has prioritised providing early road connectivity to both areas.
