Kalimpong (West Bengal) [India], August 16 (ANI): BJP MP Raju Bista on Saturday strongly criticised the state Public Works Department (PWD), local leaders, and contractors for alleged corruption in the maintenance of National Highway 10, claiming that they have treated this road as a “milk-producing cow”, and only saw it as a “means of earning money” every year.
Bista visited the areas on NH-10 affected by continuous landslide incidents, which have cut off the road linking Siliguri and Sikkim.
Speaking in Kalimpong, Bista said that despite the Centre allocating thousands of crores of rupees for development, the funds were not reaching the ground.
“PM Modi gave thousands of crores of rupees for development here. But it is not reaching the people here. In NH 10, where thousands of crores of rupees are spent every year, the road remains closed during the rainy season. PWD, local leaders, and contractors here treated this road as a milk-producing cow, and only saw it as a means of earning money every year,” he said.
Bista welcomed the move to transfer responsibility for NH-10 to the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHAIDCL) this year but warned that continued negligence would not be tolerated.
“This year, this road has been handed over to NHAIDCL… If this negligence continues for a long time, then if I have to sit on a dharna for the welfare of the people, I will definitely do it,” he said.
Earlier, due to continuous rainfall in the hills from Sivok to Rangpo, NH-10 has also been damaged at several locations, affecting the movement of road traffic from Sivok to Rangpo and thereby affecting the Project works as well.
However, T7 Adit Tunnel, located in Kalimpong on the Sivok-Rangpo Railway Project, remains safe and unaffected by the landslide that occurred on Monday, IRCON International Ltd stated.
IRCON, the executing agency for the project, stated that the landslide took place on a hill slope approximately 30 metres away from the portal of the T7 Adit Tunnel.
The slide was limited to the left side and occurred in a private area outside the railway land’s right-of-way (ROW). “The main tunnel and the Adit Tunnel are safe and unaffected by the landslide, and there is no possibility of any damage to the Tunnel,” IRCON said in a press statement. (ANI)
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