A civil society body here alleged corruption to the tune of Rs1 crore in the construction of the Proof Road connecting the district headquarters town with the defence establishment at Chandipur.
Proof Road Suraksha Mancha revealed that while constricting the road, its quality was not maintained and also supervision of the construction work was overlooked.
Manch Convener Abhay Das said, “After long persuasions, the defence establishment here did a major work in the form of constructing the Proof Road involving renovation of an old and dilapidated road after a gap of about 16 years. The fund was given by the Ministry of Defence and the contractor too was engaged by it. For each 4.5 km stretch of road Rs3.39 crore was spent, yet the quality of construction was not up to the mark. The concrete height of the road while was to be 6 inches, it was made 4 inch. Besides, in about 1 km road, instead of metal, black top coat was given.”
Das demanded that the quality of the construction of the road be verified jointly by a committee of the Ministry of Defence and the district administration. “We have sent our grievance letters to all stakeholders, including the defence authorities in Delhi, the PWD, the Central Vigilance Commission and the district administration. However, we are yet to find any remedy,” Das lamented.
Among others Ramchandra Patra, Dr Santanu Das, Tapas Sahu, Bikram Panda and Sairul Haque of the Manch were present.