Guwahati: Assam Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Ashok Singhal on Tuesday claimed that many contractors of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) supported water supply project might soon face arrest.
According to Singhal, negligence in duty from many contractors has caused inconvenience for the public, and FIRs will be lodged against them, followed by their arrest and being kept under lock-up.
Singhal added that contractors who did not pay attention to their work will be released from their duty, and new contractors will be appointed soon.
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“Many contractors dug roads for the JICA project for laying the pipes but after that, the roads were left in a damaged condition and they did not repair them later. It was the responsibility of the contractors to repair the road,” Singhal said, adding that proper action will be taken against these contractors.
The move comes after the state government announced a probe into allegations of corruption and anomalies against the JICA project in Guwahati in February 2022.
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The government had set up a panel headed by the then Additional Chief Secretary to the state government, Paban Kumar Borthakur.
Several water supply projects under JICA in Guwahati are yet to be completed and are past their prescribed time limit.