Imphal, Dec 7 (NNN): The shoddy and substandard work initiated by a contractor on the ongoing black-topping of Thungcheng village under Western Valley Ring Road of Chandel district in Manipur has had the locals worried with All Manipur Tribal Union (AMTU) threatening to drag the concerned authorities to court if the matter is not looked into before Christmas.
Apparently, executive members of Thungcheng Youth Club and elders of Thungcheng village in Chandel district of Manipur had informed AMTU that bitumen used in the ongoing black-topping of road within the village under Western Valley Ring Road is ‘scarce’ and that grasses have begun to appear on the rolled road as early as the following day of the works.
The AMTU said that when the matter was brought to the notice of the contractor upon his visit by local villagers and club members, the former ‘simply asserted that it will mend up by itself when the hot sun beam heats.’
Taking cognizance of the serious nature of dereliction of duty by the contractor, the matter has been apprised to the concerned central Public Works Department (PWD) authority and the Executive Engineer (EE) of Chandel PWD, said AMTU, ‘As it is violation of stipulated norms to basic amenities for tribal regions which will be taken as discrimination’, coming, as it is, after 60 years of development isolation of the village.
AMTU has advised the concerned authorities to review the work and redo silt coating before Christmas, failing which a Pubic Interest Litigation (PIL) will be filed jointly with the villagers.