Projects worth several thousand crores of rupees have come to a standstill due to Lockdown

Lockdown hits PWD hard

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State PWD is one of the worst affected departments of the State during the last 12 days of the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown period that commenced on March 24 midnight. This is largely because this time of the year is “the working season” of the State’s Infrastructure sector — largely managed by the PWD (Public Works Department).

Before the lockdown came into effect, various PWD works estimated at around several thousand crores of rupees were going on in full swing across the State. Among these are the flyover projects at Guwahati Super market and Ganeshguri in the city as well as the road projects of several thousands of kilometers in various parts of the State. Besides, work on the six-lane Guwahati-North Guwahati Bridge over the Brahmaputra had also just commenced.

However owing to COVID-19, all these projects have now come to a standstill.

On the other hand, various departmental projects slow down in the pre-monsoon phase that usually commences around May. And as the monsoon season along with the waves of floods gradually start from June, the PWD is forced to shelve its developmental works up to September.

A government contractor told The Sentinel, “Following government’s direction, we’ve stopped all ongoing works. We do realize that during this emergency situation, it is impossible to carry on any infrastructure-related works.”

He added, “The Department gives us a completion period against each project that is awarded to us. But, this time it’ll be difficult for us to stick to the departmental deadline.

“Moreover when work of the projects would be allowed after the lockdown, we’ll face a number of hurdles: first, mobilization of men and machineries will be a time consuming process; second would be nature’s vagaries in the forms of monsoon and floods.

“Nevertheless, we’ll restart the pending projects on a positive note.”

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