by Anup Biswas

Haflong  : The Haflong – Jatinga feeder road or the only connecting road of 7.7 Km only from Haflong post office to Jatinga Zero point has serious concern among the people for the abnormal delay in completion and also the quality of works.

 

The construction of this road which connects Haflong with the NH 54 E at Jatinga was awarded to Simplex Somdatt Builders JV in the year 2011 at an estimated cost of rupees 25 crore  plus by the PWD Building & NH department. The completion period of the road was three years of the commencement of the works.

 

Many organisations of Dima Hasao including students staged dharna and demanding immediate completion of the road in many but still remained incomplete and developed numerous pot holes causing untold sufferings for the commuters. Since the Simplex Somdatt Builders Joint Ventures was not responding to the people’s demand for the  completion of the road, the people of Dima Hasao approached the then Deputy Commissioner Ms Juri Phukan who compelled the company  to  carry on the construction works. As result of which, the road was constructed but with substandard quality. The road though completed for the name sake, developed hundreds of potholes within few days of its construction.

 

Indrajit Bora, Executive Engineer, PWD Haflong Road Division who had been supervising the construction had said,  in many occasions he had approached the authority for the withdrawal of Simplex Somdatt Builders JV company repeatedly since the company could not complete the works in time, so that the works could be allotted to other.

It is learnt that instead of taking any action against the Simplex Somdatt Builders JV Company, the PWD NH has revised the estimate and also instructed to complete the works within the month of December 2018, but till the date, no sign of works has been noticed all along the Jatinga – Haflong road. At this, people of Dima Hasao and neighbouring districts and states expressing serious concern over the lackadaisical attitude of the concerned Chief Engineer, PWD NH as the Jatinga- Haflong road is the prime road connectivity through the NH 54.  .

The people are of the opinion that there must be some nexus between the officials of PWD Building & NH Department and the Simplex Somdatt Builders JV for which the NH Department could not take any action against Simplex Somdatt Builders JV despite people’s demand.