The much-talked about
Punatsangchhu project’s ballooning costs is fated to push further by billions
of ngulturms with the government taking the decision to return the Takshasili
quarry sites to the owners in haste. The govt’s move came following a threat by
the mafia-like influential owner of quarry sites to either pay the demanded ‘ransom’
or face the drawn-out legal battle. The decision is basically flawed in every
sense of logic and reasoning.
Government is pliable and submissive
when it comes to deal with unsated influential and powerful people while it’s dealt with an iron fist in case with the poor farmers. In the name of ‘national
interest,’ the ancestral lands belonging to hundreds of farmers were taken away
under compulsory force with little or no room of negotiation and with the dictated
terms of compensation. If the farmers threat the govt with legal battle, I don’t
think government would dance on the same tune.
Millions of cubic meter of high-quality
quarry products are required for the mega project. As per a reliable source,
not all quarry sites from within the reach of project sites are able to meet
the required specification except the one that belong to the private owner. Every
minute distance of quarry sites from the project site would add up cost
exponentially and that’s why it can’t be extracted from distance afar. By this
token, govt’s idea of procuring quarry products from ‘open market’ is indeed misleading.
It’s likely that the private owner would
enjoy the monopoly of supply of quarry products which may weigh heavy on the
project cost.
At times, it appears to me that all
this drama of hassle and tussle is a deliberate attempt to eye-wash the general
public. After all, there’s no denying that the owner of Quarry Company is the steward
of PDP. For now, only god knows what’s
going on within the close circuit of party networks.
