The Meghalaya High Court has directed the State government to set up a committee with the Chief Engineer of PWD (Roads) and a Secretary-level official for the smooth and quick handing over of the acquired land for the Shillong-Dawki road project and to quickly resolve all local issues that may arise in the other stretches so that the work can be taken up in right earnest and completed without any undue delay.
“The Secretary in the PWD Department of the State will file an affidavit to indicate the measures taken and the progress made in such regard. If it is found that there is no effective measure taken by the State, a separate committee may be set up by the court,” said the order passed by the division bench of the High Court today.
During today’s hearing, the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) told the High Court that the Shillong-Dawki road project which has been divided into five packages has already run into rough weather as only two of the packages are ongoing and, because of local issues particularly relating to handing over of the acquired land, two contractors for the other three packages have abandoned their contracts.
The NHIDCL also suggested setting up of a monitoring committee to ensure that the land already acquired for the purpose is handed over immediately and the alignment problems are avoided at the intervention of local residents in certain areas.
