The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) has terminated two major contracts with M/s Sadguru Engineers & Allied Services Pvt Limited due to severe construction delays on the Jorhat to Jhanji four-lane road project in Assam. The contractor has been ordered to vacate the project site within 15 days. This marks the fifth time this year that the authority has dismissed a contractor in the state for failing to meet project timelines.
According to official termination letters, the firm was charged with “deliberate misrepresentation,” “willful concealment of material facts,” and a “persistent breach” of its contractual obligations. While the residual infrastructure and toll plaza project was initially slated for completion within six months, it remains unfinished even after a lapse of more than 800 days. Investigations revealed that the contractor had illegally sub-contracted 85 percent of the workload to two external firms, falsely mischaracterizing the arrangement to authorities.
Furthermore, NHIDCL stated that despite receiving extraordinary financial and logistics support, the contractor abandoned the site last October. The company also failed to maintain existing four-lane traffic corridors, exposing daily commuters to significant road hazards. Because of this default, NHIDCL will now re-tender the remaining balance of works at a significantly higher cost, all of which will be recovered from the defaulting contractor. This crackdown aligns with NHIDCL’s recent stringent actions against non-performance across Assam, follows the termination of similar highway contracts with other firms earlier this year, and highlights the government’s zero-tolerance policy toward infrastructure delays.
