The Goa government’s Public Works Department has a standing contract with RITES Ltd for quality assurance. All works worth more than Rs 50 lakhs are supervised for quality control by the Central government’s company under the aegis of the Indian Railways.
But is the reputed company’s work in Goa gathering dust in rims and rims of bureaucratic red tape?
The recent case of one major road work -- Khandepar Highway -- seems to indicate so.
The RITES report on the Khandepar Highway had reportedly exposed the substandard work carried out. But officials of both the PWD and the contractor MV Rao have apparently succeeded to keep the findings under wraps. The contractor firm claims it has not received any such report and they deal only with the PWD. The latter’s officials meanwhile claim that the issues raised by RITES in its report have been sorted out and addressed during the construction process.
The ground reality and condition of the road meanwhile tell another story and the issues raised by RITES have inexplicably remained only in the files.
Another measure that officials of the PWD claim ensures quality of work is the Defect Liability Period which the contractor executing the work has to adhere to.
It is the time period, which for roads is up to three years from completion during which the contractor is responsible for shoddy work and early destruction of roads and other defects.
During the DLP, the contractor is responsible for repair or to undertake the entire work again without getting any additional payment. But do they, is the million dollar question.
