'Chinese firm accused of delay tactics in Himachal'

: The people living in the Theog-Kotkhai-Hatkoti-Rohru region, which forms the core of the apple belt, have started fearing that the Long Jian Road & Bridge Limited Company, a Chinese firm, may be resorting to delay tactics to mar the local economy.Earlier, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had taken strict notice of the delay in the widening and upgradation of the road and asked the firm to file an affidavit for the delay.Work on upgradation ofthe 80.68 km of the road started on 5 June 2008 and the scheduled date ofcompletion was on 4 June 2011, but senior officials of the company admitted thatit would take another two years for the work to be completed. They cited areaspecific constraints, operational and procedural delays besides squeezedfinancial liquidity as the reasons for the delay. However, a visitto the region show that the local residents are visibly upset. “Lastseason there was a bumper apple crop, but we could not send fruit worth over Rs700 crores to the markets, because of the bad condition of the road and thefruit eventually rotted and fell in the orchards itself,” was the popularsentiment expressed by the locals.They said that this year though itis not a bumper crop and an average yield is expected, but if the sad conditionof the road continues to be in the shape as it is, there will be difficulty insending the fruit to the market. “There is just about one and a half monthleft for the apple season to begin and there is no way the road will be ready bythen, which means that apple worth about Rs 550 to Rs 600 crores will not reachthe markets this season also”, they claimed. Alleging thatthere could be a Chinese plot to ruin the economy of the region, as HimachalPradesh happens to be bordering China, they said that the touted reason for thedelay was the decision of the Government of India that only people on work visacould work and not those on business visa. However, former Cong MLAfrom Jubbal, Rohit Thakur said that more than a Chinese ploy it appeared thatthe BJP government in the state was all out to ruin the economy of the region asthe party was known for its anti-apple stance. “Why blame the Chinese, onemust first ask the state government, what has it done to get the work completedin time by the Chinese company”, he asked.