Nagaland road mess: Centre wants to blame it on Niephiu Rio

NEW DELHI: The cost escalation of four highway projects in election-bound Nagaland has become a bone of contention between the Centre and the state. Suspecting connivance between the private concessionaire and political leaders in the sudden cost escalation of the projects, the Centre has not cleared the revised estimates, much to the indignation of the Nagaland government.

The cost of the four projects, awarded to M/s Maytas-Gayatri JV in December 2010, has escalated from Rs 1,296 crore to Rs 2,988 crore. Just to put the figures in perspective: the annual plan allocation of Nagaland for 2012 is Rs 2,300 crore. What has given rise to the controversy is that the contractor has not completed a single km and spent over a year only in excavation.

The Centre is irked by regular payments to the private contractor without state monitoring and despite no actual work being done. With the Centre discontinuing payments earlier this year, the contractor has stopped work leaving roads dug up in the state.

Democratic Alliance of Nagaland government, which includes Naga People's Front, BJP and NCP, is facing a problem as the Centre is considering the option of referring the case to CBI for a thorough probe. Speaking exclusively to ET, Nagaland chief minister Niephiu Rio blamed the road ministry for the mess. "There was a problem right from the beginning. We (the government) did not want all the four projects to be clubbed and given to a single contractor. Even the state contractors did not want this. But it was done. I am not complaining. But we know the roads are in a mess. They cannot be abandoned now," Rio told ET.