Morung Express News
Mokokchung (Khar) | June 20
On the heels of a video clip that went viral on social media where some villagers were seen expressing dissatisfaction with the quality of blacktopping work in their village, officials of the PWD are reported to have intervened and a mutual understanding arrived between the department, the contractor and the villagers.
The incident in the video happened on the morning of June 19 at Khar village under Mokokchung district and the ongoing blacktopping work there is being done as part of Phase 2 of “Upgradation of road from Alongchen to Mangkolemba via Impur, Mopungchuket, Mongchen” through NLCPR measuring a total distance of 19 km. The contract for the said work was granted to and is being executed by M/S A.N.K. Construction, a Class-1 registered firm with registration number NPW/Class-1/670.
Khar Village Council Chairman, Temjennungsang confirmed the incident in the video that went viral. He also said that the village council invited both the Executive Engineer, PWD (R&B), Mangkolemba Division and the contractor concerned on June 19 to the village to take stock of the situation, following which the matter was amicably resolved with the understanding that the contractor would resume with quality blacktopping works only after the onset of the next dry season.
Er. T. Nungsangtemjen, Executive Engineer of PWD (R&B), Mangkolemba Division later issued a public statement the same day wherein he stated that he had personally inspected the “actual site regarding the unfortunate viral video.” He also said that he found the “main reason” to be that the contractor had “not cleaned up the top surface properly for black topping while executing last night (June 18) due to absence of proper lighting system and unfavorable climatic condition.”
He also said that he approached and discussed the matter with the contractor in presence of the Khar Village Council members regarding the “rectification of the defective component parts wherever necessary” and that it was agreed to by both parties.
Accordingly, the Executive Engineer said that blacktopping work was “executed satisfactorily” for a length of 60 meters in his presence. The Executive Engineer in his statement further added that the contractor agreed to postpone the “blacktopping item temporarily till the rainy season is over in order to improve the efficiency of the said ongoing project.”
The Village Council Chairman of Khar when asked if he was aware of the statement issued by the Executive Engineer and whether he was satisfied with the latter’s statement responded in the affirmative to both queries.
