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| The under-construction drain in front of the oldest departmental store, Doss & Co, in Jorhat. Telegraph picture |
Jorhat, Oct. 21: An incomplete road widening project that extends to the chief minister’s constituency and has been hanging fire for the past three years is causing inordinate traffic congestion in Jorhat and robbing the district’s oldest departmental store, Doss & Co, of business.
The project, funded by the North Eastern Council and launched by chief minister Tarun Gogoi in the presence of Jorhat MLA Rana Goswami and then deputy commissioner L.S. Changsan on October 10, 2007, includes widening of the Naali, construction of a number of culverts, 10 RCC bridges and a drainage network at an estimated cost of Rs 52 crore.
In March 2009, work orders of six contractors were cancelled after Gogoi, who happened to pass through the area, was enraged to see the tardy pace of work.
“The chief minister, driving down the road during one of his visits to the constituency, asked for disciplinary action against the contractors for going slow,” executive engineer, PWD Roads, Jorhat division, Jatin Baruah, said.
A source alleged that the contractors who were blacklisted were upcoming youths who did not have the financial wherewithal to take up such work and non-release of funds on time and non-payment of bills by the NEC resulted in the incomplete work.
“After that, tenders were floated thrice but no one was willing to take up the unfinished work. The entire 2009 passed this way. After the tender was floated for the fourth time we went to Golaghat and requested a contractor there to finish the work. He was assigned the work in March 2010,” Baruah said.
“But a huge dug-up part of KB Road where a culvert was supposed to come up got so flooded for the major part of the year that the necessary wire mesh could not be inserted. Even in August, when work started, heavy rainfall washed away everything and we had to wait till September to restart. Now this section is over but we are waiting for the cement to dry before starting on the next section as the road will be completely blocked if we start immediately,” he said.
Tapan Doss, a member of the Doss family, said for the entire 2009 the dug-up and half-finished drains running close to Doss & Co. deterred customers from entering the store.
He said the heritage Cally Building in which the store is housed has developed cracks and the steps have sunk into the dug-up road.
Baruah admitted that the steps had sunk but said it was not PWD’s fault, as they “projected out” on government land.
And the damage on the walls was not because of digging but because the building itself was very old.
Cally Building was constructed in 1910, and Doss & Co, possibly the first departmental store in Assam, was started in 1865 and shifted to this building in 1915.
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