DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 5 (MExN): Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT), Nagaland has alleged of blatant and systemic corruption carried out with impunity on the construction of Pukhungri - Avankhu road project.
ACAUT Nagaland said the road which is supposed to have been completed in early 2013 seem barely visible and far away from completion.
Citing information contained in an RTI filed on the construction of the said road project, ACAUT Nagaland said the Pukhungri- Avankhu Road project work was awarded to M/S Vi-u Angami & Sons, the commencement date for the work was 24th January, 2011 and the projected date for completion was March, 2013.
The total project cost was Rs 2339.33 lakhs (twenty three crore thirty nine lakh) only, out of which Rs 2188.89 (twenty one crore eighty eight lakh and eighty seven thousand) was released and sanctioned.
According to the RTI, 94% of the earth work in formation has been completed as on June 2018 while the reason cited for the delay in completion of the said project has been “due to un-anticipated hard rock requiring blasting.”
ACAUT Nagaland termed it a “simply shocking” that a project which is supposed to have been finished in early 2013 and when almost 94% of the total project cost has been sanctioned, the Pukhungri – Avankhu road seem barely visible and far away from completion.
While many reasons would be cited for the delay in the project or the incompletion of it, ACAUT Nagaland however said the fact remains that in Nagaland “construction projects are deliberately stalled and delayed to revise the cost of the project cost.”
Terming the case as a perfect case of blatant corruption practice that has been going on in the state of Nagaland and the root cause for the under development and poor infrastructure in the state, ACAUT Nagaland has demanded that M/S Vi-u Angami & sons firm be immediately “black listed and stopped from doing any ongoing work projects until a thorough investigation is done.”
It also requested the appropriate authority to initiate an independent inquiry into this murky and blatant case of corruption.
