ITANAGAR, Sep 16: Chief Minister Pema Khandu who is also the Minister in-Charge of PWD while attending the first review meeting of the department today here at the State Banquet Hall appealed the departmental engineers to exhibit courage, determination and sincerity and usher quality in works. 
Clearly hinting at the reported interferences by political leaders in tendering processes of the department, Chief Minister asked the engineers tofunction in a transparent manner and go strictly by the book. He categorically stressed that work culture of the department officials, particularly of the engineers, must change for good and every engineer right from the junior level to the top must be aware and responsible for all projects under their jurisdictions. “SEs and EEs should be personally updated with the status of each project and must physically visit each work site regularly, which will not only help in monitoring progress and maintaining quality but also encourage junior officials to discharge their duties honestly and sincerely,” he advised while adding it will also ensure timely completion of projects.
Highlighting the involvement of officers in petty politics which results in juniors getting appointed to higher posts on officiating basis, which in turn disheartens the sincere ones, CM assured “We are committed to discard this practice, conduct regular DPCs and re-instill discipline in the department.” Along with Commissioner PWD Belatee Pertin and Secretary W Y Ringu he went through the presentations made by the concerned SEs of each circle and current  statuses of all projects under schemes like CRF, RIDF, NLCPR, NESIDES, BADP, SADA, SIDF, NEC, ISC, BE, RUSA and budget announcements were discussed in detail.
Expressing concern on delay in completion, failure to float tender and non-submission of utilization certificates of various important projects, CM specifically sought the status of the sick projects like Tamen to Tali, Tamen to Dollungmukh, Ziro-point to Tali in Kra Dadi district etc and called for early solutions. Regarding the status of 4-laning of the capital road, he was told that as work is not progressing at required pace, department proposes to have a final meeting with the contractor by October end and decide further action.
Highway Division of PWD informed that tenders have been floated for Potin-Pangin segment of Trans Arunachal Highway which has been sanctioned in 9 packages by MoRTH. While expression of interest to make DPR of the 2259 km Frontier Highway-Dirang to Vijoynagar has already been invited by MoRTH, proposals for East-West Corridor (1046.80 km) under Bharatmala scheme of the center has been submitted to MoRTH for approval. Issues like taking over of PWD roads by RWD under PMGSY was also raised, to which Chief Minister directed the concerned EEs to urgently submit details for finding solutions. To the issue of delay in release of funds, he assured that government is bringing reforms for ease of work and it is one of the main concerns. Other departmental issues like shortage of manpower, both technical and non-technical, lack of office buildings, etc were also highlighted to the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, Chief Engineer (SIDP & P), Dr Atop Lego explained in detail provisions of the Arunachal Pradesh State Road (Regulation and Development) Act, 2015 besides enumerating the objectives of the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive State Road Development and Building Infrastructure Development Plan 2019-24. Dr Lego informed that the plan envisages to prioritize construction/repairing of state capital roads (108 kms), district headquarter roads (300 kms), ADC/SDO headquarter roads (300 kms), EAC/CO headquarter roads (900 kms) and state highways (400 kms) by 2024. He also said that all projects under CRF, RIDF, NESIDES etc will be channelized through this plan.
Expressing his disagreement to the existence of engineering wings in non-engineering departments like Tourism, Education, Sports, etc, Chief Minister informed that government is committed to dissolve all such wings and despite a Cabinet decision in this regard, they are still in existence due to some technical issues. He was of the opinion that the Executive Engineer, who heads such wings, cannot be competent enough to successfully oversee work projects of the concerned non-engineering department in the entire state. “We have started the process and the engineering wing of the Tourism department will be the first in line,” he said. He however assured that all in-service engineers and officials of such wings will be taken care of by the government and those who are on deputation will be restored to their parent departments and others will be adjusted in various departments as per eligibility, seniority and feasibility, he added.
All Chief Engineers, Superintendent Engineers and Executive Engineers of the department were present in the meeting. CMO

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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