Lotha Hoho (LH) expressed dismay at the quality of work on Wokha-Merapani road after finding that work in most stretches was unsatisfactory as the construction was not carried out as per the detailed project report (DPR) and the agreement signed.
Stating this, LH said it had carried out a joint inspection of the ongoing work on the Wokha-Merapani road along with officials from Wokha district administration and NHIDCL, representatives from ITJ, Lotha Students’ Union, Lotha Youth Hoho, Village authorities concerned, etc, on March 24 as per the directive of Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench.
The verification was carried out to ascertain whether the works were carried out as per the specifications and the team inspected the stretches of package-I and package-III.
The hoho said when the “One Man Inquiry Member” inspected the works in March 2020, works within Package II were just starting and hence the report submitted on March 16, 2020 had only stated “the works are in progress for Package II”. Hence, it added that the inquiry report did not specify any particular comment and the court needed to be apprised of the pathetic work quality within package II.
LH mentioned that work on the road from NST Colony, Merapani Foothill to Merapani-Uriamghat junction was not implemented due to hindrance from Assam side.
As the road project was funded by North Eastern Council (NEC), whose jurisdiction covers all the North-eastern States, the hoho stressed that this should not be taken as a border issue and urged the State government to immediately settle and execute the work as per the DPR without any restriction.
The apex Lotha body warned that if the issue was not settled at the earliest, it would take its own course of action.
LH had filed a PIL in the high court in 2019 against the construction company for non-satisfactory work. And following a court order on January 29 this year that called for verifying the works, NHIDCL raised the issue with Wokha district administration, to direct the landowners to provide land for widening the road as mentioned in the contract agreement and directive of Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench to maintain the width of road as mentioned in the schedule ‘B’ of contract agreement, within a period of seven days.
As it had obtained no objection certificates (NOC) from various village councils concerned in 2016 and accordingly the project was sanctioned, the hoho asserted that the question of availability of land did not arise.
Mentioning that it had assured along with civil society organisations to extend full cooperation to the agency and contractor for quality work, the hoho said work of road widening should not be an issue. This was stated in a press release issued by LH joint secretary Amos Odyuo.