By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Almost two months have passed since the State Government decided to construct the Jorabat-Umiam four-lane road on NH-40 through the Umsning Bypass, but it is yet to hand over land to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) which is implementing the mega project.
An NHAI official, on the request of anonymity, said, “The work is going on at full swing but the land for the Umsning Bypass has not yet been handed over to us.”
“The work will progress better only if we get the land for the bypass, the official added.
When contacted, Ri Bhoi Deputy Commissioner Akashdeep said that the process for acquisition of land along the Umsning Bypass is already on.
“The land acquisition is under process and we will issue the notice very soon,” Akashdeep added.
The State Government had, earlier, decided to construct the four-lane road through the Umsning Bypass but following opposition from some NGOs the State Assembly took a decision to construct the road through the existing highway passing through Umsning.
However, this decision was aggressively opposed by the JAC, a conglomerate of Ri-Bhoi NGOs, who even resorted to agitation to pressurize the Government to reconsider its decision.
Finally, in January, the State Government once again decided to construct the four-lane road through the Umsning Bypass.
According to Akashdeep, majority of the people in the area are willing to part with their land for the important project which would benefit the common people of the State.
The distance of the road from the Umsning Bypass is about 5.21kms (from Lad Mawrong at Jingkieng Umtrew) whereas the distance between the two points on the existing road is only about 4.17 km.
The work for the project began at a rapid pace but the work has now slowed down mostly due to the controversy over the alignment.