Contractors' negligence behind delay of works in Nagaon-Dibrugarh four-lane road: Gadkari

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Union Minister of Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari admitted in the parliament that problems in land acquisition and negligence on the part of some of the construction companies led to the slow pace of works in the Nagoan-Dibrugarh stretch of the four-lane National Highway.

The work of this stretch of the four-lane national highway began in 2015.

Replying to a question from AGP MP Dhruba Prasad Baishya, Gadkari informed Rajya Sabha, "We have listed three construction companies as inefficient and allotted their works to other companies for their negligence. Talks between Dispur and the NHIDCL (National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd) are going on to sort out land acquisition-related problems. We have divided the entire length from Nagaon to Dibrugarh into nine stretches to speed up the work. NHIDCL headquarters, its regional office and the project monitoring cell have been monitoring the progress of the four-lane work. Repair and maintenance of the service roads of the national highway under construction is the responsibility of the construction companies concerned. It is a must for smooth traffic movement."

According to PWD sources, though the maintenance of the service roads is the construction companies' responsibility, they seldom repair such roads. "The State government cannot bind them to do so as the construction companies are under the jurisdiction of the NHIDCL. We did request the NHIDCL repeatedly on this, but to no avail. The service roads are not motorable in many stretches of the national highway. The plight of such roads will be pathetic during the monsoon. The responsibility to make the construction companies bound to repair the service roads lies with the NHIDCL," a source in the PWD said.

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