Manipur HC to state govt: Decongest traffic in front of Old Secretariat, complete Civil Secretariat complex in 3 months

The Court also asked the government as well as the construction agency involved, to complete the Civil Secretariat Complex at Mantripukhri within 3 months so that the Secretariat can be

The Manipur High Court has pulled up the state government for the traffic congestion on the national highway in front of the Old Manipur Secretariat and directed the N Biren Singh-led Manipur government to decongest the area at the earliest.

The Court also asked the government as well as the construction agency involved, to complete the Civil Secretariat Complex at Mantripukhri within 3 months so that the Secretariat can be shifted and this would ease the traffic congestion.

A bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice M.V. Muralidharan and Justice A. Guneshwar Sharma was hearing a PIL filed by an advocate that argued that non-completion of the Civil Secretariat is causing inconvenience to the general public passing through the eastern side of the present Manipur Secretariat, as both halves of the National Highway in front of the Secretariat are occupied by the vehicles of officials and employees of the Secretariat and VIPs, adding to the congestion on the street.

What led to the delay in completion of the project?

The petitioner stated that construction works for setting up the new Civil Secretariat had begun in 2010 for which the contract was awarded to Simplex Projects Limited.

However, Simplex could not complete the construction work within the stipulated time, the contract was terminated and in 2021 the work was awarded to Sri Avantika Contractors with a condition to complete the work within 12 months.

Besides, the petitioner also drew the attention of the court to a report submitted by Sri Avantika Contractors to the High Court in terms of which it had indicated that the work is about 95 per cent complete and despite completion of 95 per cent work, out of the total bill of Rs 100.78 crore submitted PWD only paid a sum of Rs 69.11 crore and currently, there is an outstanding of Rs 31.67 crore due to them.

What did Manipur High Court say?

The delay in completion of the Civil Secretariat work has caused traffic congestion on the Highway adjacent to the existing Secretariat as both halves of the National Highway in front of the Secretariat are occupied by the parked vehicles of the officers/employees and securities of VIPs. The said traffic congestion has led to inconvenience to the public passing through the eastern side of the present Secretariat, the bench pointed.

The court directed the state government to strictly enforce the traffic rules to ensure that illegally parked vehicles are booked.

The state government and Sri Avantika Contractors have been directed to comply with their contractual obligations and complete the construction of Civil Secretariat work.

The bench further directed the state and Sri Avantika Contractors to cooperate and work together to ensure that the Civil Secretariat work is completed within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.

It was only yesterday Chief Minister N Biren Singh had chaired a crucial meeting to take stock of the preparedness of shifting the Manipur Civil Secretariat from Babupara to Mantripukhri.

Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said,”Once the Civil Secretariat is shifted to the new location, it will not only streamline the administrative activities but also help expedite the work being undertaken for bringing development and growth to the state.”

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