Undertaken with great promise to facilitate a shortcut link between villages of Kasom Khullen subdivision in the south and that of Phungyar block in the east under Phungyar constituency in Ukhrul district, the substandard construction of the BRTF- Khamlang road under PMGSY has spelled huge despair for the concerned villagers.
At present, villagers from both the subdivisions are compelled to take a circuitous route via Imphal covering more than 200 kms to connect each other, said Khamlang village chief S Wungnaoshang during a spot survey with media persons on Thursday.
According to the village chief, the BRTF-Khamlang link road constructed by the agency KV Construction is supposed to facilitate connectivity between the two sub divisional blocks which are located less than 20 kms apart.
Stating that the famous Tuyungpi river runs in between the two blocks, he said that Khamlang village under Kasom Khullen block is situated closest only about 13 kms from the river, while the nearest village under Phungyar block Sorbung is only some 6 kms away from the river.
"With the construction of the much awaited 8-km stretch of BRTF road-Khamlang link road towards the Tuyungpi river that started in May 2013, villagers from both sides had hoped that the new road would cut a considerable distance between the two subdivisions," Wungnaoshang observed and added that however, various anomalies in the construction of the road have rendered the same unmotorable.
There is already an old earth cutting till Tuyungpi river but the PMGSY road has ended abruptly before connecting it, he lamented.
Explaining this, village secretary N Chingsangam disclosed that the road was constructed under MSRRDA under Package No.MN0952 with the total sanctioned amount of Rs. 2.73 crores and the requisite work was supposed to be completed in November 2014. "However, the agency had halted the work much earlier on their own whim leaving the roadworks incomplete," he rued while adding that the villagers were then shocked to learn that despite this, the agency had already withdrawn the final bill of the work, except a fraction of Rs. 20 lakhs for maintenance.
He alleged that the agency had clearly flouted the norms of PMGSY, stating that while a width of 5.5 metre/20 ft is stipulated for culverts, the width of earthworks at various portions is found only 9-15 feet posing danger to motors.
Not a single brace wall has been constructed and most of the culverts are laid at improper points, he pointed out, while adding that rain waters have also washed away the road surface extensively since katcha drainage is not done in major portions .
"The villagers are not happy with the substandard quality of the road," Wungnaoshang said and appealed to the concerned authorities to look into the hardships of the poor villagers without further delay.
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