State govt waiting for funds from DoNER to construct Borghat-Sonapur road in East Jaintia Hills: Deputy CM
It may be recalled that on December 15, the Meghalaya High Court had asked the state government to obtain funds for commencing the work of metaling the Borghat-Sonapur road.
Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, on December 20, informed that the state government is waiting for the release of funds from the DoNER Ministry for the construction of Borghat-Sonapur road along the Indo-Bangla border in East Jaintia Hills.
Tynsong stated that though the approval for the same was made a long time back, the DoNER Ministry has yet to sanction them.
"Of course during the current year, I had a meeting with the Union Minister of DoNER, who has already assured us that this year the sanction will be accorded to this particular road project," Tynsong said.
The deputy chief minister also assured that the state government will immediately float the tender once the sanction is received.
"We have already submitted a DPR, the estimate of which is around Rs 90 to Rs 100 crore and now we are waiting for the ministry to sanction the funds," he added.
It may be recalled that on December 15, the Meghalaya High Court had asked the state government to obtain funds for commencing the work of metaling the Borghat-Sonapur road.
In its order, the division bench said, “Immediate steps should be taken to obtain funds and commence the work of metaling the said stretch of nearly 40 km, particularly since the internal communication between places on the route have been seriously impeded because of several stretches being virtually non-motorable.”
A letter issued by the Chief Engineer, PWD (Roads) revealed that the in-principle clearance for the 39.6 km stretch to be metalled has been granted by the North-Eastern Council (NEC) under the North East Road Sector Development Scheme.
The letter also informed that an Empowered Inter-Ministerial Committee had met on July 7, 2021, when it was agreed that the State government would fund the balance amount of the project beyond the available outlay of Rs. 62.02 crores.
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