In an unprecedented incident, a portion of Itanagar's National Highway 415 (NH 415) near D sector collapsed as heavy rain lashed the state capital on Monday morning.
Visuals show a part of the highway crumbling down, raising questions on the construction done by the Arunchal government.
Notably, the highway, connecting Naharlagun and Itanagar, was completed just two months ago with a total cost of Rs 180 crores.
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The state has been witnessing heavy rain since two days and there have been reports of landslide and waterlogging in several other areas.
"The wall of the DDK is on the verge of collapse due to the landslide," The Arunachal Times had reported earlier.
"Poorly designed and constructed drains in the heart of Itanagar, part of NH-415 which was completed last winter, has triggered flood in the adjoining areas," the Eastern Sentinel reported.
Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu has been under heavy fire since the incident took place with many netizens taking to Twitter and slamming the poor execution of the work done by the contractors and officials. Check out some of the tweets –
Smartcity turned into oversmart city #ArunachalPradesh #landofrisingsun #itanagar @PemaKhanduBJP @ChownaMeinBJP @DistrictICC pic.twitter.com/CVO91z8rvi
— Tamak Tatung (@TatungTamak) May 31, 2021
Is this your Deadline Gift to Itanagar ?#Govt of Arunachal Pradesh
31st March =31st May 2021#No Proper Drainage, No Proper Alignment, No Proper Maintenance
Is the Result. #We Need immediate Renovation with Proper Drainage System in our Roads. pic.twitter.com/Iy4MWzBESx
— Giogi Tani (@GiogiTani) May 31, 2021
Rasta banaya hi ta, khatam hogiya👀.
Jai @PemaKhanduBJP @ArunachalCMO @DistrictICC
Took 2 years to complete,
took 2 months to collapse.
Rip drainage system, Rip quality.#RIP #SMARTCITY #ITANAGAR pic.twitter.com/qBYeAosmck
— Likha Taram (@TaramLikha) May 31, 2021
Smart city itanagar. Road age: 1 month pic.twitter.com/X57J8ByJFU
— Mahu modi (@MahuModii) May 31, 2021
In October last year, Khandu had announced that he would resign if the said road was not completed by March 31, 2021.
"I had full faith on our engineers, contractor and the district administration that's why I had made that announcement. Congratulations to all for keeping the faith alive," he said congratulating all involved in completion of the project.