After monsoon delay, road repair project meets another

The grounded road paving machine at Padumpukhuri, Dimapur on November 3. (Photo Courtesy: PWD-Roads & Bridges)

Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 3

With the retreat of the monsoon, things were looking bright, especially for the road sector, with builders starting to resume temporarily suspended repair works in Dimapur. But it was not a bright resumption for a construction firm after its workers were forced to abruptly halt work following a disturbance from a group of people crying foul over alleged disregard for project specifications. 

As per a complaint received by the police, the incident occurred on the night of November 2 in Padumpukhuri. The Dimapur confirmed receiving the complaint on Sunday and said that inquiry was on. 

The road in question – Padumpukhuri gate to Hollohon colony via Purana Bazaar and Income Tax office – is part of a broader plan dubbed ‘Improvement of Dimapur City Roads’ announced by the PDA government in 2018. The stretch of road is one of 25 roads in Dimapur identified for repair under the plan and runs a length of 3km.

 
The police complaint filed by the contracted firm said that a group of people turned up at the project site near Nagamese Baptist Church, Padumpukhuri around midnight on November 2 asking the engineer at site to stop work immediately. The allegation, as per the complaint, was that “the work is not being done according to the DPR.”

It alleged that an engineer of the PWD (Roads & Bridges), who was overseeing the work, was also threatened of assault when he tried to reason with the group of people. “We tried our best to reason with them and settle the matter in a peaceful manner but they became even more agitated and threaten to burn all our equipment if we don't surrender the keys of all the equipments.”

The complaint added that the agitated crowd did not even allow the workers to empty the bitumen mixing machine, which was in the midst of paving the road. The keys to the paving machine and a road roller were also snatched and thrown away, it alleged. 

“As a result of this incident we had to discard 3 tipper (truck) loads of Bituminous Macadam Mix which was almost worth Rs 3 lakhs,” it added. Further, it said that the action of the group of people rendered the mixing machine “unrecoverable” as the bitumen-aggregate mix that remained in the machine cooled and solidified. It explained that bitumen-aggregate mix must be used when hot as it will harden and set on to the machine. 

The PWD (R&B), Dimapur Division when contacted by The Morung Express said that it was aware of incident. Queried on the allegation against the firm, the Executive Engineer of the Division said that the people, who force stopped the work should have brought their concerns to the Department instead of taking matter into their own hands. 

As far as the work in question was concerned, the official maintained that it was as per the specifications of the DPR or Detailed Project Report. 

According to the official, the road runs 3km in total, out of which metalling and soiling was required in a 2.7km stretch. “There is an existing paved segment of 300m, out of the total 3km, in which no metalling and soiling was required,” he said. 

The group of people was reportedly unhappy over the apparent unequal treatment accorded to the 300m stretch and insisted that metalling and soiling be done in the 300m portion too.  

The firm when contacted expressed concern on meeting the targeted completion date.  

The particular road, along with 24 others, had a targeted completion timeframe of 12 months. The works set rolling sometime in January. 

Other sources said that in addition to the monetary loss and expected delay, the challenge at hand was removing the hardened bitumen-aggregate from the paving machine said to be worth several lakhs. 

The sources said that it would have a cascading effect as the firm’s other projects as well as a few other firms involved in the ‘Improvement of Dimapur City Roads’ project were also said to be in line to borrow the paving machine. 

According to the sources, the Purana Bazaar to Padumpukhuri stretch of the 3km road was targeted to be completed in a day or two.