The Hynñiewtrep Youths Council (HYC) has alleged that corrugated aluminium roofing sheets of sub-standard quality were distributed by the state government to poor beneficiaries in Meghalaya.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and Housing Minister, the pressure group said that the sheets provided by a company it identified as Hariana Iron Works Pvt Ltd of Kolkata should be recalled as they were barely half the standard thickness and of poor quality generally, making it insufficient for housing or animal sheds.
The HYC had received complaints from stakeholders about the quality of the roofing, which has been distributed to beneficiaries in Khasi-Jaintia Hills through the Community and Rural Development blocks.
The sheets were, according to HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem, acquired by the Directorate of Housing from Hariana Iron Works, “which usually does not deal with manufacture or supply of roofing sheets as per the company’s profile”.
The Directorate had placed an order for corrugated aluminium sheets of 8 feet in length, 80cm in width and 0.45mm in thickness, the standard dimensions used in previous purchases.
“But on inquiry by us and as per the complaints received from various stakeholders, the thickness of the roofing sheets supplied by the above-named supplier is only about 0.25mm and is of the low standard quality and not fit for roofing of animal sheds let alone roofing of human houses,” Synrem said.
The HYC has thus demanded a recall of the roofing sheets, the halt in further distribution, an inquiry into the process of procurement and supply, fixing of responsibility and action against the Director of Housing and other officials involved as well as the blacklisting of the company from doing further business with the Meghalaya government and legal prosecution.
