The Telegraph
Guwahati | January 22
Nagaland has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest percentage of poor roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
The scheme is a flagship programme of the Centre to provide all weather connectivity by 2009 for plain areas having more than 1,000 residents and hilly areas, deserts and tribal areas with 500 people.
Other states in the Northeast, which have fared poorly in terms of quality of roads are Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya followed by Manipur, Tripura and Assam.
A source said inspection of assets created under the scheme by independent national quality monitors in September last year revealed that 88 per cent of work completed in Nagaland was of “unsatisfactory quality”. Work under way for the remaining projects, too, is said to be tardy.
Union minister for rural development, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, had written to the chief ministers of these states last week to take appropriate disciplinary action against field engineers and penalise contractors responsible for the fiasco.
In Arunachal Pradesh, 73 per cent of the work completed is unsatisfactory. In Mizoram, 67 per cent of the work completed is not up to the mark.
In Meghalaya, 39 per cent of work completed is of unsatisfactory quality. The figures for Manipur reveal that 38 per cent of works completed fail to meet the requisite standards of quality.
A total of 32 per cent of work completed in Tripura is of unsatisfactory quality while in Assam it is 29 per cent.
To make matters worse, some states in the region have not been able to draw funds allotted to them. Manipur has been able to draw only Rs 104.33 crore of its cumulative entitlement of Rs 216 crore for 2006-07.
Similarly, Arunachal Pradesh has been able to draw only Rs 179.46 crore of its cumulative entitlement of Rs 279 crore.
Singh said Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland have not drawn any amount so far this year.
The Asian Development Bank assisted North East State Road Projects seeks to upgrade about 1,300 km in the region with the broad objective of facilitating regional integration and promoting trade. It also aims to develop institutions for capacity building of the state public works departments for effective and efficient management of roads.
