Morung Express News
Kohima | April 10
Following Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s announcement on repairing and maintaining the roads in Nagaland within 60 days, Tongpang Ozukum, Minister of PWD informed today that the government has released 25 crores out of the 50 crores allotted for the repair and maintenance of the state capital road and district headquarter roads in the 12 districts of Nagaland, where works began on April 9.
“Out of 60 days, already 32 days have lapsed. We are only left with 28 days,” said Tongpang Ozukum during a press conference held at his official residence on April 10. The work will be carried out by the Nagaland Public Works Department. “Inheriting such a big deficit,” he said the new government had to start from scratch, and cited other challenges like resource and material mobilization.
The government has listed priority roads in the district headquarters covering 217 kms. The cost for this comes to around Rs 102 crores, of which the government has agreed to give Rs 50 crores.
PWD Chief Engineer, Limadongdang Jamir informed that the government has already released Rs 25 Crores for first phase of repairing and maintenance. He informed that bitumen requirement has been placed to the manufacturer at Guwahati.
“We hope to receive the bitumen starting from tomorrow in Dimapur. As soon as the materials reach, we will dispatch out to the district headquarters. It may not be at one go but over the days we will be getting the bitumen which we have placed. As far as materials are concerned, with regard to stone chips, we have received information from the district officials that they have contacted stone quarries, and labourers. They are all ready,” he added.
In some areas in Kohima, work has already begun, with labourers already filling up the potholes. The Chief Engineer as well as the Minister also pointed out the challenges of the weather. “Since it is bituminous work, we are at the mercy of the weather which is beyond our control. Because of the traffic we will be more concentrated during the night hours especially Kohima, Dimapur and Mokokchung. One of the biggest hurdles for us is the working hours within these few number of days available to us,” Jamir said.
Another focus will be on the repairing of side drains, he added, and sought public cooperation. “We will try our best within these few days. The road rollers (39) have been deployed to the district headquarters by the mechanical division and whichever are not there from the mechanical division, we are going to hire from private parties,” he announced.
Jamir also stated that the department would ensure that none of the districts are deprived, while adding that apart from their own labourers, the department would also be hiring skilled labourers experienced in bituminous work from contractors.
Ozukum meanwhile said that “as we start the work, we will keep on nagging the government to release the remaining amount.” “The amount projected by the department is the actual requirement. Government as of now, has assured 50 crores. Definitely as we start the work, another 25 will be released,” he said
300 crores required annually for road maintenance in Nagaland
Under the Road Maintenance Policy in Nagaland, Rs 300 crores is required to maintain the 12,080 km State Highways in Nagaland. Earlier the State roads covered a stretch of 14377.5 km but after handing over some of the roads to the National highway, it has come down to 12,080 km, informed the Engineer-in-Chief. Despite this, Ozukum informed that the department only gets Rs 40 Crores.
He meanwhile appealed for the cooperation of the people. “Our roads are very narrow and in this kind of traffic problem, it is not so easy to carry out the works. There will be a lot of inconveniences,” he said. The Minister has also appealed the ward authorities to extend every possible help to the department. “The road sector is a major concern of the people. It’s been a long cry of the Nagas for a stable government as well as good roads. We are hopeful that within these 28 days we will achieve what we have announced to these people,” he stated.
