Dispur lodges case against MBL

'Work on Khapara-Sopur stretch of tiol highway 37 ignored public safety and misused public money'

BY Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, June 17: The Assam government has lodged a police case against MBL Construction Company, the firm responsible for building the Khapara-Sopur stretch of the East West Corridor, charging it with ignoring public safety and misusing public money.

The Circle Officer of Dispur Revenue Circle Chinmoy th lodged an FIR at Basistha Police Station after an on-spot inquiry detected flaws in the construction, which had caused a pothole on the flyover near Ganesh Mandir.

“It was observed that the underground cross culvert was an old culvert used for the existing road. Such an old culvert cannot take the load of the huge quantity of surface material as well as the growing vehicular traffic. It was technically essential to remove the old cross culvert and to construct a heavy RCC cross culvert at the site during construction of the fly-over. But the construction company avoided it,” the FIR stated, noting the prelimiry inquiry findings.

Though the company concerned filled up the hole, but a crack developed near it subsequently, creating risks of fatal accidents.

According to the FIR, while the company misused government money by indulging in substandard quality of work, it has also created a burden of additiol cost for frequent repair of the flyover at that site.

The FIR sought an investigation into the incident and appropriate action against the company.

Earlier, The Sentinel had reported how the contractors in that stretch of NH 37 did not maintain work proper quality and violated the contracts by not adhering to the origil design.

According to the origil design, the stretch between Khapara to Sopur was to have around 15 culverts and ‘slab boxes’ to regulate flow of water.

The contractors did not construct even a single culvert, thus obstructing the water flow which is turn lead to wear and tear of the road beds. Any change in the design needs approval from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, which was not taken.

Technical faults were also detected at the bridge over Digaru at Sopur which caved in a few days back.

Questions have been also raised on RITES which is responsible for inspecting the construction works on day-to-day basis. Observers say that the engineering consultants, who team here is headed by one V rayan, should also be brought under the ambit of the probe as to how it approved the constructions.