Says it paid for experts engaged by NPWD
Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 26
The Khaghaboto Area Kukami Kuqhakulu (KTKK) stated that it would not stop the public from using the Shozhukhu-Zukihe Bridge. The KTKK made the statement today, at a press conference in Khaghaboto, reacting to the advisory from the Nagaland PWD to avoid plying the bridge citing concerns over structural safety.
The advisory from the NPWD, issued on May 21, came to the public domain only on May 23 through the Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur. As per the advisory, the bridge was not certified by experts before it was opened to traffic on February 21 and pending safety certification, it was not to be used.
Questioning the logic of the NPWD, the KTKK (a forum of village headmen under the Khaghaboto area), asked why the Department had to wait three months to issue the advisory. “We won’t stop the public from plying,” said KTKK Chairperson, Vikato Swu, while maintaining that it would have been wise on the part of the Department to have consulted the public of the area before issuing the advisory. He also said that the government would be held accountable if something happens.
The bone of contention— the foundation of the bridge, he said, was set when the present Engineer-in-Chief of the PWD was the Executive Engineer of Dimapur Division.
Shiwoto Katty, Chairperson, Zukihe Village Council recalled being told, when the project first started, that the technology applied to set the bridge’s foundation piles was the first of its kind in Nagaland. He said, “We did what the government could not. Now, they are creating unnecessary problem. They are pointing to technical certification. What were they doing earlier?”
The bridge was commissioned around 2006-07 by the North Eastern Council through the erstwhile NLCPR. It was however abandoned midway over financial wrangling between the PWD and the construction firm (PABSCON), which eventually landed in court. In 2019, the work contract was foreclosed reportedly at request of the contractor. Given the importance of the bridge against a non-committal attitude of the state government, Swu said that the public of the area made the move to resume construction. In this regard, he said that a representation was submitted to the Governor in 2015.
The then Governor was said to have relayed the appeal to the government, following which the Department inspected the bridge but it stopped at that. In 2017, the KTKK had issued two public statements through the media drawing attention to the project but to no avail. He added that they eventually took the grievance to the MLA, incumbent PHED Minister Jacob Zhimomi.
According to a supplementary media handout, the Minister wrote to the Department “to resume the work at the earliest. However, several months had passed by without any communication from the concerned department to the KTKK.”
As a result of the government’s inaction, he said that the public of the area took it upon themselves to complete the bridge via crowd-funding.
Meanwhile, expert teams were sent by the Department to inspect the bridge (foundation) on at least two occasions in 2019 and early 2020. As claimed by them, the cost of the visits by the experts were borne by the KTKK. “The necessary expenditure incurred for site visit and bridge assessment and other related expenditure by the technical team engaged by the PWD department were borne by the KTKK as the government was not providing fund to meet such expenditure,” the handout said.
The assessment report of the technical teams was submitted to the Department. But, according to the KTKK, there was no follow up action.
The construction of the bridge was reactivated in 2021 and completed in 11 months time. It added that appeal made by the Minister seeking technical assistance from the PWD (R&B) in February 2021 also came to nothing.
Contrary to the PWD advisory, the KTKK said, “Taking all technical inputs and correction required has been taken into consideration during the process of completing the bridge.” Nevertheless, it said, “The KTKK strongly appeals to the NPWD department to depute technical experts within 2 weeks for the required purpose.”
