GUWAHATI, March 7 � PWD Minister Ajanta Neog today informed the State Assembly that the Centre has directed completion of four lanning work of the National Highways in the state by 2013.
The Minister was replying to the debate on the cut motion on supplementary demand for her department. She admitted that the four lanning work of the National Highways in the state is slow due to the problems in acquisition of land and due to the disputes on estimates concerning the trees being uprooted for the implementation of the project.
The state has submitted proposals for four lanning of the portion of the highways so far excluded from the ongoing scheme. The state PWD has 1950 kilometer of National Highways under it and it is seeking to double lane this portion of the Highways.
The state has undertaken integrated road development project only lately and The Minister requested the MLAs to monitor the implementation of the PWD schemes, adding the Department has gone for an online monitoring system of its performance.
Earlier, Abdur Rahim Khan (AIUDF) accused the PWD of doing shoddy work in the name of road construction and said that contractors were getting payment despite not completing their allotted work. He said that it was high time the PWD evolved a foolproof mechanism for ensuring quality work in a time-bound manner.
Jadav Deka (AGP) said that rural roads under the PMGSY made a total compromise on quality, and that it was largely attributable to the absence of field laboratories for checking road quality. He also alleged that the executive engineers of the department were routinely giving false certificates.
Deka said that bad roads were also a major factor behind the spurt in accidents in the State.
Bhupen Roy (AGP), Jehanuddin (AIUDF), Kamaljit Narzary (BPF), Majendra Narzary (BPF) and Keshab Mahanta (AGP) criticized the PWD for poor road construction.
