ACAUT questions PWD on City Tower to DC Court junction road
DIMAPUR, AUGUST 10 (MExN): The Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) Nagaland today posed questions on the road condition of the stretch from City Tower to DC Court junction.
A press note from the ACAUT, citing information gathered through an RTI, informed that the Nagaland State PWD had “released a huge amount of money, Rs. 20 Cr approximately, for ‘Improvement of the road between City Tower and DC Court Junction, Dimapur,’ and whereas M/S Khumtsa Awomi seems to have diligently completed the repair work, as per the RTI reply.”
As per the RTI reply, it informed that the PWD had declared that the improvement work as having being “completed” and an amount of 19,42,48,000 already released to the contractor.
Hence, ACAUT questioned as to “how the repaired road could disappear overnight since the riverbed-like road condition hasn’t changed in the past few years unless some unscrupulous scoundrels must have stolen the road.”
The ACAUT questioned “where this Rs. 20 Crore disappeared since Dimapurians are not aware of any improvement work in this stretch since 2013.”
“Does the PWD expect the public to believe that the now ongoing work in this stretch filling the potholes with river stones is a Rs. 20 Crore project? If indeed, such a huge amount of Rs. 20 Crores had been pumped in for improvement of the road, this stretch should look and feel better than even the Noida-Delhi Expressway but the fact of the matter is an autorickshaw, a 3-wheeler goods carrier, a car, and a rickshaw have already met with accidents, with a lady passenger sustaining injuries on account of the riverbed-like road,” it stated.
The ACAUT urged the Chief Engineer, PWD, to “explain the manner” and pointed out that “this general trend of brand new roads being stolen all over the state leaving behind only river-beds for the public to ply may get to the point where, when appropriate authorities step in, you may be left high and dry.”
It further claimed that the “excuse of the department that it has no money to undertake repair of roads has been exposed.”
