NORTH LAKHIMPUR, June 7 � The ongoing Rs 361.42-crore project of strengthening and heightening the embankment of the Ranganadi river has suffered yet another problem as heavy rains damaged it at various points.
Heavy rains created deep craters on the embankment of the river on its western bank, pausing serious questions on the level of standard maintained by the contractors during the reconstruction. The project, which has been plagued by various controversies from awarding the contract to the halt of work with a Gauhati High Court order by a rejected bidder farm and alleged complicity shown by the Lakhimpur district Water Resource Department in releasing 30 per cent of the running bills to the contractors before commencement of any work, is now affected by nature as heavy rains lashed the region for the last one week.
Poor construction work by the contractors using sands mined from the Ranganadi river instead of heavy soil is being attributed to the damage of the under-construction embankment on the western bank of the river.
Heavy rains have created huge craters on the embankment on the Kadamiyal and Kharkati area of the river bank. Rains also have affected the embankment on the eastern side of the river where construction work of the embankment has been suspended due to the High Court order.
As the monsoon has arrived in the State, the increase of water on the Ranganadi river could breach its embankments on its either side at any moment in the coming days, fear the local villagers.
The villagers opined that the reconstruction work of the Ranganadi embankments should have been done in concrete works instead of the traditional earth filling by the Water Resource Department which could have been done in the amount of money allotted so far for the project.
The local public here has also been demanding a high level inquiry into all these alleged irregularities of the Ranganadi embankment work by the Prime Minister�s Office (PMO).
