SHILLONG, MAY 26: The Congress on Thursday demanded immediate stepping down of the Minister in-charge PWD (Buildings) Dasakhiat Lamare and suspension of the executive engineer Ransom Sutnga to ensure a fair enquiry into the recent collapse of the dome of the new Assembly building.
“For a fair enquiry, the engineer In-charge of the project should be suspended and the Minister, PWD Building should step down immediately taking moral responsibility as too many projects under his department are coming into question,” Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) vice president Banphiralang Basaiawmoit told reporters at a news conference.
He said they had decided not to give any deadline as in fact heads should be rolling from the day the dome collapsed.
His statement came two days after the High Powered Committee (HPC) had decided to appoint a third party to investigate the recent collapse of the dome and audit the safety of the under-constructed new Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang.
Banphiralang however alleged that the site is yet to be sealed and workers are seen working that area.
“If people are still there at the site, chances of tampering might occur. As a youth Congress, as a responsible party, we feel that the place should be sealed immediately. We should not allow anyone to tamper with any evidence available on the site,” he demanded.
Further, the youth leader alleged that tender clauses have been flouted. “The sub-contract work allotted to BRC Ltd. could not have been more than 40% of the contract value, but it seems the tender clause has been ignored by UPRNN Ltd. whereby 100% of work is being executed by the sub-contractor,” he said.
He said that the current NPP government in the state seems to be holding no bar, when it comes to flouting rules and pushing the system to work for their own personal gains.
“This attitude of bulldozing state agencies and departments has never been witnessed in our state till recently. It seems that the bureaucracy is being coerced to suit the whims and fancies of their political masters and this is a direct symptom of the Rot that has plagued our beloved State,” he added.
Stating that it is about time that this “chalta hai” attitude of the people in power should come to an end, Banphiralang said, “The public of this state cannot be taken for a ride any longer as we have seen for the past four years, all the failures of the Government has had a direct or an indirect impact on the well-being of the common citizens of our state. Even the stars are aligning towards exposing the rot that has been brought about by this Government.”
Meanwhile, MPCC secretary Manuel Badwar said that the party highly suspected that there is an intention to hide evidence of what is exactly happening from the structural point of view.
“Even a layman can understand the way the entire structure crumbled that day shows that the quality of work is quite bad. Blaming it on the design I think it is something which is very far-fetched,” he said while asserting that all construction works should be stopped and the crime scene be sealed to ensure a fair investigation into the case.
By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours