SHILLONG, MAY 23: The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Monday demanded the state government to immediately set up an independent inquiry into the collapse of the dome of the new Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang on Sunday.
Addressing media persons, MPCC working president Pynshngain N Syiem said, “The state government should institute an independent inquiry. It will be good if a central agency will come to inquire and anyone involved in the incident should be punished.”
He said that incident was only a tip of the iceberg of the rot that lies beneath the willy-nilly functioning of the present NPP led government under Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and his Deputy Prestone Tynsong.
Syiem also said that the state government should also keep in abeyance all construction work till the inquiry is completed.
“We also demand that the company implementing the project should be blacklisted for putting the lives of the people at risk,” he said.
The Congress leader further questioned the government’s decision to allow a company which had been rejected during the tendering process to take a sub contract for construction of the Assembly building.
“It is also understood that as per the tender clause, there was no scope of subcontracting, but it is evident, the qualifying firm, Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd (UPRNN Ltd) had subcontracted the work to BRC Ltd, a construction based company from Assam, which has got no experience in Dome Structure building and this firm is executing the work,” Syiem said.
He said they cannot blame the design as it has been vetted by non-other than one of the best engineering institution of the country, IIT-Roorkee.
Syiem also questioned how a company which has quoted the minimum rate of Rs 127 crore has been allotted the work.
“Let me remind that after the tender has been called we understand that the tender was fixed at Rs 145 crore but we failed to understand that the UP based company UPRNN Ltd has quoted the rate at Rs 127 crore, a difference of Rs 18 crore,” he said.
“We also fail to understand that they have also revised the estimates to Rs 181 crore while the second revision is more than Rs 200 crore. Despite this huge amount, we also fail to understand why the quality of the construction is poor,” he added.
Stating that the ease of shifting the blame to IIT-Rourkee will not fare well with the reputation of the state Department, Syiem said, “Any layman can understand that the problem lies with the quality of construction which clearly indicates that the officer responsible is only shying away from his
responsibility.”
Alleging that the Executive Engineer of the PWD (Buildings) Ransom Sutnga had allowed rampant poor quality of construction as he was too busy pleasing his political masters and building up his own political career, the Congress leader demanded that the government should immediately suspend the employee.
“The contractor at the ISBT is a ruling party worker whereas the Executive Engineer is a prospective candidate of the ruling party and he has been seen busy campaigning from North Shillong while also holding on to his government job. He should be immediately suspended from his responsibilities,” he said.
According to Syiem, there must be an independent legal scrutiny by a sitting judge of the High Court to probe all government projects which have resulted in such problems.
Further, he said that the work on the new Assembly premises has to be stopped immediately and a reputed competent agency to be entrusted to check the quality of construction and thorough safety audit to be made before further construction.
It is time that the people of the State must know what is going on inside this government and how the State exchequer is being robbed in broad daylight and those responsible are getting away scot free, he asserted.
Meanwhile, Syiem said more strikingly, in all of these, the deafening silence of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma makes such incidents all the more murkier.
“He is more busy in Casinos and procuring land for a “green airport,” ignoring the existing infrastructure and land that has been acquired for expanding the airport. Surely, there is more than that meets the eye in all of these. The question to ask is whether all of this is a way of ensuring that the ruling party has its bags full and come the next election, will go to any extent, even if it’s about selling the reputation of the State and its prestige,” the Congress leader said.
By Our Reporter
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