The village authority drew attention of Manipur State Rural Development Agency against erring contractor. “In the event of a failure to commence the work positively within 1 (one) week time, the village authority will be compelled to take up further course of actions,” it said
TFM Ukhrul Correspondent
Tashar Village Authority on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Chief Engineer, Rural Engineering Department of Manipur State Rural Development Agency (MSRRDA), against an erring contractor for non-execution of PMGSY-II road from Ramva (Lambui) to Lamlang Gate via Tashar village.
The village authority cautioned the contractor not to shy away by giving lame excuses and pretexts to evade from his responsibility. “In the event of a failure to commence the work positively within 1 (one) week time, the Village Authority will be compelled to take up further course of actions,” it said
The work order for execution of the project has been issued by the MSRRDA in favour of an agency called M/S Morung & Sons in December, 2020 with the Tender amount of Rs. 14,46,74,000. As per the word order, , time frame for completion of work is 18 months.
Six months have been lapsed, but there is no sign of any commencement on the ground in spite of absence of any problems, said a press statement issued by headman of the Tashar Village Authority.
“We are greatly shocked and disappointed by the inactive and irresponsible nature of the contractor for not paying any attention. And his prolonged negligence in his duty and lack of workmanship has led to this undue delay in work execution,” he said.
The headman further said this is a matter of great concern and unacceptable to us as this deprives our rights to access to proper road. It is a fact that durable period for construction of road in hill areas is six months only before monsoon sets in. It is humorous and unthinkable that the work can be accomplished within the stipulated time of 18 months if the work contractor continues to show his insincerity and haphazard workmanship in this manner, added he.
For over four decades the denizens of Tashar village and Tashar Chanhong Village have been facing utmost hardships under the dilapidated state of road condition in terms of access to health care and education among various others. Article 21 of the Indian constitution embraces not only physical existence of life but also quality of life and for residents of hilly areas, access to road is access to life itself, said the statement.
With much hope and anticipation, the villagers of these two villages and its neighbouring villages have been waiting for quite some time that the contractor would timely begin and complete the work as per the approved terms of the said work order.
However, to our utter dismay, nothing is visible on the ground so far even after the lapsed of six months. For which, we are constrained to approach the authority of the MSRRDA to draw an urgent attention to take up necessary actions against the erring contractor for failing to comply with the guidelines of PMGSY and also to take up necessary steps to ensure commencement of the road construction strictly as per the approved specification without compromising work quality in public interest without any further delay.