Unknown miscreants set ablaze a bitumen mixer machine, which was stationed for the Seppa-Chayang Tajo NEC road construction at 2 Km area near here in East Kameng district, on Monday evening.
The arson took place when the entire town was celebrating Christmas. It is suspected that the machine was set on fire to sabotage the ongoing carpeting and blacktopping work for the Seppa-Chayang Tajo road.
Appalled by the incident, the All East Kameng District Students’ Union lodged an FIR against unknown persons who perpetrated the arson.
Condemning the incident, the union said that “destruction of bitumen hot mixture plant poses a significant threat to the progress of the NEC road,” and urged the district police to “book the perpetrators and constitute a special investigating team to unearth the facts behind the incident.”
DSP Kamdam Sikom confirmed the incident and informed that a case of arson has been registered at the police station here and it is being investigated.
The Seppa-Chayang Tajo NEC road construction has been marred by corruption and slow progress, which drew flak from all quarters. In November 2021, during his visit to Chayang Tajo, Chief Minister Pema Khandu had assured that the road would be completed within two to three years.
The Special Investigation Cell (SIC) of the vigilance department had launched an investigation into the misappropriation of funds meant for the 81-km road project, leading to the arrest of four officials and Gammon India Pvt Ltd staff, including the then executive engineers and the superintendent of engineer, in 2021.
The SIC had conducted a preliminary inquiry into the allegation of misappropriation of funds by Gammon India, and had registered the matter as a regular case [u/s 120 (B)/420/465/471/409 IPC, r/w Section 13 (1) HO (d) & 13 (2) PC Act, 1988] on 7 August, 2019.
