Nine years have gone by when the 27.73 kms long Udhampur (Roun Domail)-Ramnagar road was handed over to a Mumbai based company M/s PBA Infrastructure Ltd by ERA authorities during March 2007. December 2008 was fixed as the completion time of this project by the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. But the performance of the firm remained very poor and it abandoned the work on vital Tawi Bridge about four and half years back. The instances of contractors leaving project incomplete and quitting halfway are many. The disturbing thing is that the State Government never takes punitive action against the defaulters. More than two lakh people living in the region where the bridge over the Tawi was to be built have been left in limbo. For nine long years nobody asked the firm why the work was not brought to completion and why it left half-way and abandoned the work? Obviously, there seems some sort of nexus between the firm and the concerned in the administration.
This project was funded by the Asian Development Fund. All necessary details about the bridge and the connecting road were finalized and the Mumbai based firm signed the contract worth Rs. 37.48 crore. Why the contractor abandoned the work halfway is not clear. However, the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) the agency supervising the work, has come down with a heavy hand against the Mumbai firm and heavy fine of 7.1 crore rupees has been imposed for leaving the work halfway. Even the class of the work this firm has done has come under severe criticism. The MLA of the constituency said that the Government had almost ignored the road showing no interest in repairing it, widening it, macadamizing it and also building the bridge according to the specifications provided to it at the time of signing the contract.
We highly appreciate the authorities taking punitive action against the firm and imposing heavy fine for the breach of commitment. This decisive action should go a long way in bringing a corrective lesson to other contractors working on various projects in the State.
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