ITANAGAR, July 23: The All Arunachal Contractors’ Welfare Association (AACWA) on Wednesday demanded that the state government immediately relocate the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) regional office from Assam’s Tezpur to Arunachal Pradesh’s capital.
In a memorandum to Chief Minister Pema Khandu, AACWA, the apex body representing the contractor community in the state, expressed concern over the operational inconvenience and administrative inefficiencies arising from the current location of the MoRTH regional office.
Despite official documents and notices, including the ministry’s own Notice Inviting Bids (NIB), identifying Itanagar as the designated jurisdictional address for the regional officer, the office continues to function out of Tezpur.
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This, the association argued, not only contradicts official communications but also undermines the purpose of decentralising project oversight and administration for Arunachal Pradesh.
The memorandum, which was made available to the media, stated that the absence of a fully functioning MoRTH office within the state capital has been a persistent issue for years, affecting both project implementation and the ease of doing business for local contractors.
“The long travel of over 200 km, from Itanagar to Tezpur, has made it difficult for project monitoring and execution, and contractors face delays in processing work-related documentation and bills,” the association pointed out.
It added that such logistical barriers often result in stalled works, such as the ongoing delay in the Papunallah–Nirjuli road package, which they attributed to a lack of on-site monitoring by MoRTH officials.
The memorandum further noted that Arunachal-based contractors are being unfairly forced to travel outside the state for routine administrative tasks, often navigating regional disturbances such as bandh calls or road blockades in Assam, despite the jurisdiction clearly being within Arunachal Pradesh.
In addition to administrative efficiency, AACWA emphasised that the presence of the MoRTH office in Itanagar would also indirectly benefit local youth through employment opportunities, particularly for support staff roles.
Calling the issue long-pending and deeply inconvenient, AACWA urged the chief minister to intervene and take necessary steps to establish the MoRTH regional office in Itanagar at the earliest, in line with the original intent of the ministry’s jurisdictional framework. (PTI)
