Guwahati, May 27: A 1.7km road in Lachit Nagar that links two arterial roads, GS Road and Rajgarh Road, is currently in a shambles.
A ride, forget about a walk, across the road is fraught with danger. Barring a few metres of road where some pavement blocks have been laid, there are stretches which are not motorable on a rainy day or any other day.
Mounds of filth piled up by the wayside, slush and filthy water spilling over from a side drain is what this stretch is all about. There's room for disaster as pre-monsoon showers have hit the city early and hard, and worse still, the monsoon is just a few days away.
An unplanned and untimely start to work under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica)-assisted Guwahati Water Supply Project in a low-lying, waterlogging-prone area like Lachit Nagar is asking for a "mess and a disaster" such as this.
The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is implementing the project through the project implementation unit (PIU) with the support of a project management consultant.
As it is, the water supply project, with a command area of South Central Guwahati, has well overshot its March 2016 deadline with only 45 per cent of the work done across the city since the project started three years back.
"Work is being carried out simultaneously. So there might be a case of deploying less manpower than required in an area such as Lachit Nagar. The expected time for the trial run phase-I is in the early part of 2017," an official said.
"Laying of water mains and subsequent restoration of Lachit Nagar road started on March 4 this year and we have set a June deadline for completion. While we admit that work on the road should have been taken up in winter, given that the area is low-lying, now we have instructed our contractors to deploy more manpower," a PIU official said.
IVRCL, an Indian infrastructure company that undertakes water projects, has been appointed by the GMDA as the contractor under the Jica-aided project.
Asked about the delay, a site engineer of IVRCL put the blame on a culvert and a defunct drain. "We have been carrying out work on a war footing, levelling the road at night and laying the pavement blocks during the day for the past three weeks. We have completed 200 metres from Rajgarh side. But a culvert and a defunct underground drain is hampering laying of the 500mm main pipes. Rain, too, has been a factor."
The residents, who along with passersby have had to bear the brunt of the mess that was once a road, say they cannot see any "work (being done) on a war- footing".
Jitumoni Das, a resident of the area, was distraught this morning with a drizzle making his life miserable. "It's deplorable. Filthy water from the drain has spilled over to my home. There is barely a lukewarm response to my complaints. They should have started work during the dry season itself and not waited for the monsoon."
The side drain, which has a gradient problem with the middle portion lower than the rest, is under the jurisdiction of the PWD.
"We will build the drain once the road is complete, because if we do so now, the drain might get damaged as pipe-laying is yet to be completed," a PWD official said.
Once the project is complete, the government-constituted Guwahati Jal Board will operate it and will be responsible for water supply and sewerage services to the residents of the Guwahati metropolitan area. That will be then though. Just now, Lachit Nagar road is a miserable hell that people walk through and live on and just about no one, it would seem, even cares.
The buck does not stop anywhere, it seems.
