ROING, 28 Sep: The Lower Dibang Valley Students’ Union in a letter to the deputy commissioner on Thursday threatened to enforce a 12-hour district bandh on 4 October, in solidarity with the Dibang Indigenous Entrepreneurs & Contractors Association (DIECA), and in support of the association’s demands.
The demands made by the DIECA are “immediate revocation of all road works contracts awarded to TTC Infra India, a non-domicile company, and allocation of all road work packages to qualified local contractors who meet the necessary criteria.”
It added: “There are a total of seven packages, PR1 to PR7 (total distance 24.79 kms). Instead of consolidating from PR1 to PR7 as a single package, these packages from PR1 to PR7 need to be executed on an individual unit basis, enabling local contractors/entrepreneurs to be eligible for participation and fulfilment of the credentials required by L&T Construction Ltd, Dibang Lot-2 Project.”
Referring to “the joint memorandum submitted by the DIECA on 21 September, raising objection against L&T Construction Ltd, Dibang Lot-2 Project, for allotting the complete road works package to West Kameng-based non-domicile company TTC Infra-India,” the union said, “We feel that L&T Construction Ltd, Dibang Lot-2 Project, and TTC Infra India have conspired to deprive the indigenous people of Lower Dibang Valley. We are not seeking works beyond our credentials; we are merely requesting road works, not some mega structure.”
“We submit our request letter with the utmost seriousness and high hope,” the union said, and added that “failure to do so will leave us with no other choice but to initiate a 12-hour bandh call (5 am to 5 pm) with the support of the Dibang Adi Students’ Union and the DIECA, in the district on 4 October.”
