NHIDCL accused of serious corruption in Tripura’s road construction

AGARTALA: After the repeated collapse of newly built National Highways in Tripura in the past three months in several locations, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) authority has been accused of faulty construction compromising quality.

There is another allegation against NHIDCL that in the name of widening the roads, thousands of old trees were chopped off. However, the contractors in connivance with the officials of NHIDCL and State Forest department assessed less number of trees and paid less to the compensation funds, especially in the Champaknagar area, Manu-Kanchanpur section, and Amtali-Sabroom section of National Highway.

The officials here on Tuesday said NHIDCL was created in 2015 to speed up the highway construction in Northeastern states and in the last five years at least 22 roads across Tripura have been awarded to NHIDCL from state PWD.

In all the cases, complaints came for poor work and not following the engineering codes, which the experts advised to maintain in the hill region, officials stated.

“Most unusually roads collapsed in several locations on Agartala-Sabroom National Highway, Agartala-Kailashahar via Khowai and Kamalpur National Highway, Agartala-Churaibari National Highway, and Vaghmun-Simlung section on NH-44A within two and three years of construction causing damaged to private properties and sufferings in public life,” said officials.

The issue got complicated after villagers from Vanghmun in Jampui Hill, along the Tripura-Mizoram border in the eastern boundary of the state, agitated last week and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding save Tlaksih village, which has faced a threat of existence due to construction of NH 44A connecting Agartala (Tripura) with Aizawl (Mizoram).

The villagers alleged due to negligence, apathy, and arrogance of NHIDCL as many as 65 houses having 272 population in the face of imminent disaster.

Based on the memorandum, Additional Secretary of Tripura government Tamal Majumdar wrote to the MD NHIDCL describing that additional cracks have been developed in the affected Tlaksih Village.

The villagers are living in fear of further disasters, prompting them to protest on the street and there is multiple media coverage on the aggrieved situation of Tlaksih Village.

With the onset of monsoon season, landslides have already occurred in several areas along NH-44A, turning it into a high-risk zone. However, the matter has been unresolved for more than a year, and asked him to consider it as ‘Top Most Priority’.

Tlaksih, a picturesque century-old village in Jampui Hill witnessed severe landslides after construction work of the NH 44A Manu-Simlung section was started by NHIDCL.

The villagers complained eastern half of the village had slid and sank and a year ago developed further cracks, making a large area inhabitable believed to be unscientific alignment and construction.

“At least 14 houses have been already damaged and abandoned, and about seven acres of plantation crops have already been destroyed, 30 graves have been damaged and the villagers had to re-bury the mortal remains exposed in a makeshift donated land,” the villagers alleged.

The lone government school of the village is also affected by the slide and has to be abandoned and the only approach road towards the village centre is too steep and curvy, they pointed out.

Meanwhile, experts observed that NHIDCL didn’t follow the engineering norms when it came to the construction of roads in Tripura. In the name of straightening roads, they cut down the hills without proper assessment of topography, river course, and soil pattern.

As a result, all those newly built roads in Tripura became vulnerable, and added, “Future of these roads is very critical because, after five years when NHIDCL contractors hand over them to state PWD, the state government cannot maintain them as there will be a regular fault.”

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