NH 2: Work on the ground has started, HC informed

October 21, 2022 41 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Kohima | October 21

While the contractor of the ongoing National Highway (NH)-2 road construction project from Kohima-Mao Gate appears to have started the work on the ground as promised to the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, the Court on October 19 observed that it was far from satisfactory.

The number of labourers deployed was only 37 and the machineries deployed were 3 JCBs, 1 Tipper, 1 Excavator, 1 Grader, 1 Soil Compactor and 1 Transit mixer, the Bench noted after going through the reports filed by the NHIDCL and the Authority Engineer of the project.

As the “work has to be executed on war footing,” the workforce and machines deployed on the ground are “far from being satisfactory,” added the Bench comprising of Justice Songkhupchung Serto and Justice Kakheto Sema while resuming suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with regard to the ongoing road construction along the stretch on Wednesday.

However, the contractor and his counsel assured that within 5 days, 150 labourers would be deployed and sufficient number of machineries would also be deployed to meet the target of completion of 51% of the work by November 2022.

The contractor has also assured that maintenance work will go on till the actual construction/repairing work is completed.
It must be noted here that the Managing Director of Fortune Group (the contractor) on October 17 had told the Court that more labourers would be mobilised to start work on the ground “immediately.”

He further submitted that the work would start at 6:30 AM from October 18 to expedite the works.

Thereafter, the Court directed the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) and Authority Engineer to visit ‘the site tomorrow and see if the work had really started’ and submit a report.

Meanwhile, with regard to the earlier Court’s directive to the Deputy Commissioner, Kohima to take steps to resolve the issues of obstructions, the counsel for the contractor informed the Bench that 2 out of 3 issues have been resolved.
Accordingly, the Bench directed the Additional Advocate General Nagaland to ensure that the issue is resolved immediately so that the work not obstructed any longer and submit a compliance affidavit on or before the next date of hearing on November 11.

The Contractor was also directed to enhance the execution of the work on “war footing” while the NHIDCL and the Authority Engineer were also directed to ensure that the former is working “on war footing mode for achieving the targets as per the timeline.”

Source: https://morungexpress.com/nh-2-work-on-the-ground-has-started-hc-informed