RED CE rejects fund misappropriation charge
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 26 2022: Saying that construction of Charoi Chagotlong to Noney and Noney to Nungnang roads is going on at present, Rural Engineering Department (RED) Chief Engineer Panti Sing Thaimei has clarified that there is no case of fraudulent withdrawal of funds against the two works.

A team of RED engineers led by Panti Sing Thaimei yesterday made a field inspection of the two roads being constructed in Noney district under PMGSY.

Notably, a team of Congress party led by its president K Meghachandra made a spot inspection of the two roads a few days back and charged that several crores had been withdrawn even though the road construction works had not been completed.

Panti Sing Thaimei said that the road construction works are underway.

The department never made any announcement that the road construction works had been completed nor the liabilities had been released in full, the Chief Engineer said.

While Rs 1.55 crore had been released, the department has been holding back Rs 3.83 crore, he said.

The MLA (Meghachandra) might have made the charge after seeing what was written on the signboard.

The date of completion had expired because of so many factors such as Covid-19 pandemic, heavy rainfall, landslide, Court battle, land acquisition, tussle among contractors etc, the Chief Engineer said.

Additional Chief Engineer Kh Rajen said the department has not yet declared that construction of the 13.5 Kms long Charoi Chagotlong-Noney road has been completed.

He also rejected the allegation that several crores had been withdrawn without executing the work.

After completing the GSP stage, the road construction works are now at the WBM stage and the liability for up to the GSP stage was released only recently, Rajen said.

There may be some misunderstanding as the Government of India's guideline does not mention the stipulated date of completion, he said.

The working period in hill areas is 18 months and the working period for PMGSY Phase I and Phase II works expired on September 30 this year.

But the works could not be carried on during the Covid-19 pandemic and this was one big reason for the inability to complete the works in time, the Additional Chief Engineer said.

The department has not declared completion of the 17.5 Kms long Noney-Nungnang road nor has the final bill been released, he said.

Even though 75 per cent has been completed, the road construction work is still going on.

The work order has a portion for repairing and its sanctioned amount is Rs 79 lakh, he said.

All Manipur Contractors Association Forum convenor Th Somorendro too rejected MPCC president M Meghachandra's allegation that contractors had withdrawn a huge amount without completing the works.

Somorendro claimed that the road construction works have been making good progress even though the same works could not be completed in time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that contractors are unable to execute PMGSY works in time as the State Government does not transfer funds sanctioned by the Government of India to MSRRDA account in time.

The State Government has not yet released the PMGSY funds sanctioned by the Government of India on September 2 this year and it has created serious problems for the contractors, he said.

He also appealed to all concerned to take into consideration several 'percentage cuts' and many other problems faced by contractors while executing contract works in hill areas.

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