Vital Central Projects; Former Arunachal Minister Waii alleges anomalies

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh is known as a 'sleeping giant' with huge untapped resources, waiting to be tapped, said former State Home Minister Kumar Waii, adding that many important projects sanctioned by Government of India have not been progressing as fast as expected.

These projects, namely the Trans-Arunachal Highway (TAH), the Hollongi Greenfield Airport and the Itanagar Smart City, to name a few, if implemented effectively, would help develop a modern Arunachal for speedy socio-economic development of every Arunachalee, the former Home Minister said during an interaction with intellectuals here on Sunday.

Road is the panacea for development in this land-locked State for which the Central government had sanctioned the TAH with an allocation of Rs 25,000 crore, he pointed out.

"The condition of Potin Road, a portion of the TAH, has turned into a nullah reflecting the status of this ambitious project," he said with deep regret, and added that if this situation does not change the project would remain a day dream for ever. Expressing deep regret that though many companies from outside the State are involved in construction, he said, many blacklisted companies have been allocated at a very low bidding ranging between 15% to 20%, which could be termed as abnormal as with that fund the project is not workable.

"It seems the actual executors are local contractors involving powerful people as 'playback singers', amounting to compromise in the quality of work. There are also a few open cases of corruption, which should be investigated properly to take the guilty to task for siphoning of huge funds," he added.

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