Villagers irked by single Water Bound Macadam (WBM) layering of road constructed under PMGSY
Source: The Sangai Express / Mungchan Zimik
Ukhrul, December 24 2018:
Phungcham Village Development Committee (VDC) has alleged that the ongoing black topping work of road from two separate portions of Halang Zero point to Phungcham and Varanglai to Phungcham village under PMGSY was done in a single Water Bound Macadam (WBM) layering.
According to the villagers, a team of VDC members along with Ukhrul based media persons visited the road construction site today to take the stock of the ongoing black topping work which began from the second week of December in local area of Phungcham village.
The villagers alleged that some portion of the road has already developed crack on the top surface and the surface of the black topped road is coming off easily.
They said that the width of the road is less than 3 metres.
The villagers further charged that both the PMGSY road from Halang Zero point to Phungcham (12 kilometres) and Phungcham to Varanglai (about 10 km) were black topped with single WBM layering and without blower.
Rejoice Khaleng V, chairman of Phungcham VDC said that the committee has told the contractor many times even in the presence of engineers of the concerned department to adhere to the PMGSY guidelines while black topping the road to maintain the quality of the road.
Village Mantri Haoching Horam also mentioned that black topping work has been delayed as the phase DC road construction work under PMGSY at the estimated cost Rs 4.26 crores started in 2014 while the estimated cost for Phase X is Rs 4.96 crores and date of commencement was 2015.Village Mantri Haoching Horam expressed that the said PMGSY road is the vital road connecting Phungcham, Paorei, Varanglai and Peh villages with district headquarter Ukhrul.
The VDC members urged the concerned contractors to abide by the PMGSY guidelines, failing which they will seek the intervention of higher authority and the State Government to address the grievances of the poor villagers.