Reacting to NPF’s charge against NDPP-led PDA government regarding road development works, planning & co-ordination and land revenue minister Neiba Kronu has issued a clarification explaining why and how the initiative was taken to improve roads in the State.
Kronu also appealed to the opposition party and the people to co-operate with the government of the day so that good roads could be ensured in near future.
He explained that the decision to improve roads was taken in the first cabinet meeting, but added that the ensuing Lok Sabha by-poll and monsoon rains delayed the process.
Agreeing with NPF that work order for Golaghat-Chumukedima road, sanctioned by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, was issued to TK Engineering Consortium Pvt Ltd, he said the progress was slow and not up to the expectation.
Kronu added that progress of work on KMC check gate–Lerie gate, whose work order was issued to M/s Vilelie Khamo & Sons, was good.
However, pointing out that these two were not the only roads required for Kohima and Dimapur and realising the necessity of more good roads, he said the PDA government decided to work on other city and district roads.
In this regard, Kronu said a meeting was held on September 29 as per the chief minister’s desire, attended by officials from Planning, PWD and Urban Development departments, where it was decided to take up a few city roads in Kohima and Dimapur for improvement at the earliest as the festive season was approaching. Subsequently, advertisements were issued in local papers for filing tenders on October 1 and 2 for work amounting to Rs 119.50 crore, he added.
He said the amount would come out from the State government’s own resources or by raising revenue.
On the Naga solution, he said there was no timeframe and regular activities should not be stopped either.
Stating that there were still politicians with political will and dedicated bureaucrats and technocrats for rebuilding the society, Kronu said it was high time everyone came out and raised their voices together against cost escalation and non-performing contractors and engineers who could not control their contractors without playing blame games.
Pointing out that offices, educational institutes, hospitals, etc, could not be reached in time due to traffic congestion and that it was a serious matter, Kronu underlined that outer ring roads and small roads could be opened in Kohima and Dimapur, besides finding a formula to ease the traffic congestion. He said that the planning department’s GIS Cell and PWD were working towards this end and he expressed hope that things would improve soon.