National Highways PIL case
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 18 2018:
Division Bench High Court of Manipur, comprising of Acting Chief Justice N Kotiswar and Justice Kh Nobin, has directed M/S Bharatialnfra Project to submit the latest report on the repairing/maintenance works going on along National Highway 37, Imphal Jiribam road.
During the PIL hearing yesterday, the Court heard the Amicus Curiae Advocate A Romenkumar.
Retired Chief Engineer of PWD, Th Joykumar was also present for assisting the Court in the issues regarding the road conditions of the Tendongyang to Koubru Leikha stretch of National Highway 2 .
He had earlier inspected the condition of the road and stated that it required immediate repairing/maintenance for facilitating smooth traffic/transportation.
Regarding the issue, Th Joykumar stated that due to certain issues concerning termination of contract with the earlier contractor, M/S Raghava Construction (which was executing the repairing work), no further work is going on in the sector.
He informed that there has been no direction from the higher authorities, either to proceed the work with the said contractor or to appoint a new contractor.
It was further submitted that if the construction work does not continue with M/S Raghava Construction, the process of floating tenders, completion of tender process and appointment of a new contractor etc would take another four to five months to complete.
The Division Bench deemed it appropriate for the Chief Engineer, PWD, Manipur, to invoke an emergency clause in this regard by the next day of the PIL hearing, so as to pass an appropriate order.
Coming to the issues of damage caused to the National Highways due to laying of cables/maintenance of cables by various agencies like M/S A2Z Infra Engineering Limited, Railtel and BSNL, the Court mentioned that it would be better for all the agencies to have a joint meeting so as to sort out any issue.
The Court also instructed PWD to submit a report after a joint meeting of the stakeholders, within a period of two weeks.
Regarding repairing/ maintenance works along National Highway 37, Imphal-Jiribam road, the Court directed M/S Bharatia Infra Project to submit the latest report within a period of two weeks.