[ Indu Chukhu ]
NAHARLAGUN, 15 Jul: With the devastating rains over the last month, the roads in the Itanagar Capital Region have been in disarray, causing innumerable hardships for commuters and exposing how ill-prepared the PWD highway department is.
The Naharlagun-Banderdewa stretch of the road and the road leading to Doimukh via Yupia and Bage Tinali are in a pathetic condition and severely need intervention. However, it appears that commuters will have to endure these bad roads for the foreseeable future, as there seems to be no contingency plan in place.
Naharlagun PWD Highway Division Executive Engineer Tadu Takha said that it will take approximately a year-and-a-half to construct the approximately 4 kilometres long flyover from Hotel Benjamin in Papu Nallah to Kankarnallah in Model Village, Naharlagun.
“Until the flyover work is completed, the other road works cannot be fully constructed as a huge foundation needs to be set up for the flyover,” he said, adding that “meanwhile, temporary restoration will take place from time to time.”
The deadline for the construction of NH 415 under Package B (from Papu Nallah to Nirjuli) is December this year. The work had been awarded to M/s Woodhill Shivam, an Odisha-based construction firm, in December 2021, but later it was sub-let to Naharlagun-based TK Engineering Consortium Pvt Ltd.
The EE confirmed that most of the work under Package C (Nirjuli to Banderdewa) has been completed, “especially the viaduct, which has been partially constructed.”
Naharlagun Highway Division Assistant Engineer Debia Takam informed that work under Package C “will be swiftly handed over to the department by August 2024 – the stipulated deadline for the package.”
The block point in Karsingsa will be opened for light vehicles by Wednesday, “and by the end of July the one-lane viaduct bridge connecting the Karsingsa sinking zone to D Sector, Catholic church, leading towards Nirjuli, will be opened,” the AE informed.
It is learnt that the executing agencies have sought an extension of the deadline, in view of the rainfall and natural calamities.
Meanwhile, the Bage Tinali to Doimukh road is also not in a good condition, leading to heavy traffic jams in the peak hours because culverts have not been constructed, causing drainage issue.
When contacted, Doimukh PWD Division EE Techi Ramda said that the department is constructing culverts, along with a 400-metre toe wall, on the Bage Tinali to Doimukh road.
“A group of contractors is working on this, and the state government has sanctioned Rs 2 crores. We are hoping that we will receive the remaining amount of Rs 1 crore in this budget session, and we look forward to completing the toe wall with CC pavement, including the drains and the culverts, by this financial year,” Ramda said.
He said that a building constructed on the side of the Doimukh to Bage Tinali road “may receive future consequences, leading to waterlogging, as its construction blocks the culvert.”
“If there is pressure in the flow from that building towards the culvert, it may overflow towards the nearby buildings, which may lead to overflow of water onto the road,” he said.
He added that “five-year maintenance work on the Bage Tinali to Doimukh road is also over.”
“The contract work was awarded to the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, and the contractor is Nabam Tullon,” Ramda informed.
The Bage Tinali to Doimukh road is a busy road, and it gets damaged easily as many vehicles are driven on it, he added.
