Morung Express News
Kohima | January 19
The Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench on January 18 directed the State Additional Advocate General to come with instruction on the progress made regarding a 2 Kilometre stretch of the National Highway 2 under NPWD in the next date of hearing fixed on February 14.
The construction of 2 km i.e. starting from Lerie gate Kohima under the National Highway (NH)-2 road construction project from Kohima-Mao Gate, is being undertaken by the Nagaland Public Works Department.
The AAG will also come instructed as to the progress made in the acquisition of land for further expansion of the work, stated the order issued by the Division Bench of Justice Songkhupchung Serto and Justice LS Jamir, after hearing the Thursday proceedings of the Public Interest Litigation (Suo Moto) regarding the project.
The contractor of the ongoing the ongoing National Highway (NH)-2 road construction project from Kohima-Mao Gate on December 2 submitted a new timeline to Gauhati High Court, reiterating to complete the project by March 2023.
Meanwhile, the Authority Engineer submitted to the court that for completion of work as per the time line given, the Contractor must deploy one additional Paver immediately and increase the working hours.
In response, the representative from the Contractor (Fortune Groups) submitted that the paver would be deployed within 7 days and the working hours would be enhanced. The representative further submitted that the Contractor is committed to complete the work within the time line set earlier.
In an affidavit, the Contractor also pointed out that width of the Right of Way (RoW) is less than 12 metres, and this has created some confusion and delay in the execution of the work.
To this, the General Manager, NHIDCL clarified that the Contractor should continue the work within the available carriage way whatsoever may be the size of the width.
“In fact, we have made this clear when this PIL was taken up, therefore the Contractor should continue the work without any hesitation,” the Bench noted.
The counsel for the Contractor also submitted that bill for the work already done has been withheld and it is causing some difficulties in carrying on with the work on “war footing as directed by this Court.”
The NHIDCL General Manager, NHIDCL, however, noted that the bills withheld are for works which have not been fully completed and would be released upon completion.
“For good progress of the work, the NHIDCL shall ensure that all the pending bills are released,” the order read.
“Needless to say but all the parties concerned shall make sure that the progress of the work is not hindered in any way and the time line set earlier is maintained,” it added. The Bench also called for personal appearance of the Contractor in the next date of hearing.
It must be noted that the Contractor had earlier submitted to the Court that the road construction project would be complete by March 2023.
