Tussle over four-laning at Umsning dogs Government
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The land owners along the existing Umsning road and the Ri-Bhoi Student’s Union (RBSU) have blamed the State Government of betraying them by deciding to construct the proposed four laning through the Umsning Bypass.
“We have been betrayed by the Government which has failed to respect the assurance they have made in the State Assembly on March 22 last year of scrapping the decision to construct the road through the Umsning Bypass,” RBSU president Tyngshain Lapang told reporters while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.
He said the Government had even assured that the proposed four laning would pass through the existing road.
It may be recalled that the Cabinet on Saturday last had announced that the four-laning of National Highway-40 along the Umsning sector would be constructed from the Umsning bypass route and not from the existing road.
At the same time, it was decided that the existing road would be “developed” and further improved upon.
In October last year, the government had also constituted a fact-finding committee to take into consideration the views of the landowners both of Umsning bypass and the existing road.
According to PWD minister H.D.R. Lyngdoh, the findings of the committee produced a “mixed” result and that the figure of those who supported and those who opposed the four-laning from the Umsning bypass route was nearly identical.
While refuting the claim of the PWD Minister, Lapang said that in fact 129 landowners supported the four-laning from the existing road while 124 of them are in favour of the construction through the Bypass.
“The Government should not have overlooked the fact that there are more people supporting the construction through the existing road,” the RBSU president said.
Lapang maintained that till the constitution of the fact finding committee, the Government was firm in its opinion of taking the four-laning from the existing road.
“We strongly suspect that the Government has been influenced by their fellow Congress legislators to take this decision since many of them own land along the proposed Umsning bypass stretch,” he said.
The landowners and the RBSU demanded that the government should reverse the decision and ensure that the four-lane should go from the existing road as they were in the “majority”.
Stating that the 600 metre stretch, between the Umsning Town Dorbar and the SBI Umsning branch, was the only cause of concern for undertaking the four-lane construction from the existing road, the landowners said the government can bypass the stretch as people in other areas like in Lum Roman, Syad, Lum Nongrim and Umtrew villages supported the idea of having the lane from the present road.
A public meeting would also be held in Umsning in the coming days before the landowners and the RBSU decide on their next course of action.
It may be mentioned that the four-laning of NH-40 from Jorabat to Umiam (Barapani) in Ri Bhoi district, covering 61.8km at an estimated cost of Rs 753 crore (inclusive of land compensation) had hit a road block at the Umsning sector in Ri Bhoi last year following a division on whether the lane should come up from the existing route or from the bypass.