By Our Reporter
Shillong: Several prominent NGOs of Ri-Bhoi district under the banner the Joint Action Committee (JAC) have set a one-week deadline for the state government to announce its decision on construction of four-laning.
In a statement issued here on Monday, the JAC chairman Donkupar Sumer said, “the laidback attitude of the State Government regarding the four-laning project depicts a sorry state of affairs.
“Since the submission of a report complied a special committee comprising of the Deputy Commissioner and five Rangbah Shnongs of Ri Bhoi on September 27, the government has not done anything”, Sumer, who is also KSU’s North Khasi Hills unit president, said.
“We want to know whether the government will go ahead with its decision to construct four-laning from the Umsning bye-pass or the existing road”, the JAC chief said.
He claimed some land owners’ unwillingness to part with their land has caused hurdles to the construction of this proposed four-laning.
According to him, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had already intimated the government that the State might lose the project due to the new proposal of re-aligning the four-laning at Umsning.
According to the Detail Project Report (DPR) of NHAI, the alignment for the project was done from the Umsning Bypass way back in 2003. The distance of the road from the Umsning bye-pass is about 5.21kms that is from Lad Mawrong at Jingkieng Umtrew whereas the distance of existing road is only about 4.17kms.
It may be mentioned that the construction of the four-lane of the National Highway-40 extends from Jorabad till Umiam at a distance of around 61.8kms with an estimate of Rs 536 crore.