Itanagar, Sept. 7: Nearly 30,000 villagers from 25 villages of East Kameng district are fuming over the non-completion of 82km Seppa Chayang Tajo Road, which is the only link that connects the villages.
The Seppa Chayang Tajo Road Development Committee alleged the MLA of Chayang Tajo constituency, Kameng Dolo, of influencing the bidding process and providing contracts to his relatives for the stretch that started in 1987.
The secretary of the Seppa Chayang Tajo Road Development Committee, Damo Bengde, accused Kameng Dolo of entering into “shoddy deals” with Gamon India, during the bidding in 1996-97.
“The 82km long stretch of road from Chayang Tajo subdivision to East Kameng district headquarters, Seppa, was supposed to be operational in 1992. But it is still languishing in neglect with potholes, craters and mud all around making it impossible for the vehicles to ply on the road. A 22km stretch of road from Seppa to Pachi that was constructed in 1980 is the only motorable road, while the rest is not negotiable. MLA Kameng Dolo never looked into the problem faced by the villagers because of the non-completion of the vital road link. He even provided work orders to his relatives influencing chief engineer D.H. Tayum and executive engineer D. Jini of the PWD,” Bengde said.
He said in 1996 Nabam Tuki of the PWD, visited the area with a promise of sanctioning Rs 90.5 crore from the North Eastern Council. But Kameng Dolo influenced the bidding process. He acted in collusion with Gamon India. An amount of Rs 47 crore was sanctioned. No representative from Gamon India was present during the bidding process. The MLA provided orders to his relatives breaching the tender norms much to the dismay of the local people.
“In reality, the PWD disbursed an amount of Rs 2.6 crore in 2007-08. The department concealed the actual utilisation certificate submitted by the executive engineer of the PWD, D. Jini,,” he added.
The road committee also threatened to launch a democratic movement against MLA Kameng Dolo, and executive engineer Doba Jini if they failed to give a written account of the unspent money to the committee.
