Staff Reporter
Guwahati: After Durga Puja is over, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari is scheduled to visit Guwahati to review the ongoing construction of roads and bridges in the state, along with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The Chief Minister today said that, on October 21, Union Minister Gadkari will visit Assam, and he will review the ongoing projects of roads and bridges. “We will discuss the slow progress in construction of the Jorhat-Jhanji stretch of the national highway, the stalled work on the Jorhat-Majuli bridge, maintenance of the national highways, etc. Already Minister Gadkari has informed me about the re-tendering of the Jorhat-Majuli bridge so that it can be completed on time.”
Two months ago, the Chief Minister met with Union Minister Gadkari in New Delhi, and Gadkari assured him that he would personally look into the issue of the tardy progress of work on the Jorhat-Jhanji stretch of the NH and find the means to speed up the work. However, no progress has been seen on the ground regarding the stretch of the NH that has been taking a long time to complete. During the rains in the last few days, this stretch was completely inundated, and motorists had a tough time negotiating their way there. On the other hand, when the weather is sunny, this stretch is filled with dust. Vehicular movement remains a nightmare on this stretch.
Last July, Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi had met Gadkari in New Delhi and appealed to him to speed up the work on the 4-lane national highway from Jakhalabandha to Dibrugarh. He especially gave thrust to the work on the Jorhat-Jhanji stretch of the highway.
Work on the 37-kilometre Jorhat-Jhanji stretch of the National Highway began in 2015, and the target for its completion was 2020. Due to the negligence of the NHIDCL and the construction companies entrusted with the work, this stretch could not be completed till date. So far, only 45% of the construction work on this stretch has been completed. Till now, four to five construction firms had their contracts cancelled for tardy progress of their work. Recently, the work on this stretch has been reassigned to three construction firms, and their progress on the work is around 17% on average.
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