ACCI pleads PM to review decision

Itanagar, May 3 (UNI) Arunachal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) today pleaded Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to review the decision to transfer over 311 km stretch of NH-52 from Border Road Organisation (BRO) to Public Works Department (PWD) of Asom.

In a letter to Dr Singh, ACCI and its Lakhimpur and Tezpur counterparts have jointly protested the decision and said that the road was the main artery for the north bank of Asom and Arunachal Pradesh and BRO was worth maintaining it and handing it over to PWD would be suicidal as the department has bad record of maintenance.

The letter said that the people of this part of the country had a bitter experience of travelling through the highway with innumerable potholes, submerged stretches, damaged culverts and ramshackled bridges till 2002. But with the intervention of the PMO, the road was handed over to BRO, which made it worth travelling.

The NH-52 from Baihata Chariali to Banderdewa, the gateway of Arunachal, has been improved in five years due to its strengthening, widening and alignment besides construction of culverts, bridges, drainage system and carpeting making the journey comfortable, ACCI said adding BRO was showered with praises by the road users for its achievements.

Lambasting Union Surface Transport Minister T R Balu for handing over the road, the association alleged that Asom PWD had proved its ability by not only maintaining NH-52 but also many other roads in the state.

Expressing its resentment, ACCI said Arunachal, being a land locked state connected only by road with rest of the country, deterioration of NH-52 would directly affect the flow and cost of essential commodities transported through it and urged the Prime Minister to reconsider the decision keeping in view the experience of BRO, a defence organisation set up for this purpose.

UNI