RTI reveals the four-lane road from Rangirkhari to SMCH is a mess due to improper planning

To provide better connectivity in one of the busiest routes in the Cachar district, the construction work of a four-lane road connecting Rangirkhari point of Silchar to the Silchar Medical College & Hospital (SMCH) and a two-lane road from the SMCH to the Irongmara bazaar via Assam University, Silchar was initiated last year. Initially, the construction work of the 18.5 km road project went on at a brisk pace, as thousands of commuters use this route to travel every day. But after some months into the work, it has been observed that the width of the four-lane road, especially in the portion between the SMCH and National Highway point, doesn’t seem uniform at all. Due to several people not giving up their portion of the land for the construction of the four-lane road, the construction work got sanctioned even before acquiring the controversial spaces of the road from their owners. And due to this issue, according to the PWD department, the construction work of the road has been at a halt for the past 15 days.

Recently, on behalf of a few social organizations, advocate Saumen Choudhury filed an RTI at the PWD department. The RTI sought the information regarding the width of the road starting from Rangirkhari if the tender was given to any company regarding the construction work, the current status of the work, etc. In reply, on behalf of the PWD department, they said that there’s been an obstacle regarding the land acquisition for the construction of the four-lane road. In different parts of the road, people are not willing to give up their land, hence the road is somewhere wide and somewhere narrow. Gautam Constructions got the responsibility of the construction work and for the entire project, Rs 6 crores have been allocated. However, as there is a problem with demarcation, a letter has been written to the Cachar District Administration requesting that the land be surveyed once again. Since then, the work has been stopped for about two weeks.

RB Chakraborty, the Executive Engineer of the Silchar Branch, PWD (Road) Department, said, “It is the responsibility of the Settlement Department to present the final map after the measurement of the road. When the road work started last year, a map was made by that department earlier. Since the road is four-lane, the width of the road has to be equal from beginning to end. But in this, work many did not agree to give up their land, and it has caused various obstacles. Recently, we were forced to stop the work as Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy and MLA Dipayan Chakraborty intervened in this issue. They demanded that the road land should be acquired first, then the final work should be done. We have written a letter to the District Magistrate Keerthi Jalli in this regard and requested her to acquire the required land as soon as possible. Since then, the work has been stopped for about 15 days. There will be new demarcation in the future and our work will start after the land acquisition process gets completed. And It might take a long time.”

RB Chakraborty further said that the construction company which has been given the responsibility of the work, are now thinking of taking legal action in the future. He said, “Gautam Construction has been entrusted with this task as a Class One company. In the first phase, the work was given through tender but in the second phase, work was allowed to start only on verbal promise to expedite the work. After the work progressed for a while, we were forced to stop suddenly. Until the demarcation is completed, the construction work cannot be done. The company in charge of the construction this time is being forced to put down its various machines and labourers, causing them grave loss. Hence, the company has said that if needed it might take legal action in the coming days.”

Advocate Soumen Choudhury said, “Several social organizations have raised questions about this construction work and based on these, we filed an RTI in the department with their queries. In response, the department has admitted many mistakes, but did not say anything about how they can be corrected. The road project is 18.5 km long in total, but it is not clear yet as to how much width the four-lane section possess. When any road construction work starts, a plaque is put up everywhere, where the details of the project are kept. Work on this project started about a year ago, but no plaques have been erected yet. Many other such shortcomings will prevent the work from being completed. The Department of PWD itself acknowledged the allegations but still couldn’t come up with any solution.