The depleting condition of roads in various parts of the city has caused a lot of inconvenience not only to the drivers but also passengers and pedestrians alike.
The common people are complaining about the poor condition of the road in almost all the localities in the city and it is not the fist time that this issue is being raked up much to the disgust of the people over the negligence in the part of authorities.
Majority of the people have also questioned the Public Works Department (PWD) for not taking any immediate steps to repair the road even the after monsoon has ended. This depleting condition of the road is not restricted to any particular locality. The fact is that all the major and internal roads of the city are in a very bad shape.
The surprising fact is that the most important roads like the one from Shillong Civil Hospital up to Garikhana point has not been repaired despite the matter being discussed in the last Autumn Assembly session.
When contacted, a senior PWD official on Sunday claimed that the department has already started to repair the road in the city. “We are aware about the poor condition of the road across the city. The department does not have the necessary manpower and equipments to carry out the repair of the road at one go,” a senior PWD said.
According to him, they have started to repair the road in various parts of the city including Lapalang and Luckier road. When asked as to why the department is only doing some patch work by just filling up the potholes, the official said that the department does not have the requisite funds at its disposal to do the resurfacing of the whole road.
“I understand that the filling up of the pot holes of the road does not last for a longer period. But we have no options due to fund constraints,” he said while admitting that majority of the roads in the city has not been upgraded for many years now.
According to the PWD official, the department has nearly Rs 170 crore of pending bills which is to be paid to the contractors.
Out of the total pending bills, he said that Rs 109 crore is pending from the non-plan schemes while the remaining is pending from the plan scheme.
“The fund position has drastically improved compared to the past. We were having over Rs 200 crore of contractors’ pending bills in the past,” said a senior PWD official.
Meanwhile, he informed that the department has called for the tender for up gradation of the major roads in city. “The department is facing a problem since majority of the contractors has quoted very high price. Presently, we are negotiating with contractors to reduce the price which they have quoted. We are hoping a positive response from the contractors to be able to take up the up gradation of the major cities roads at the earliest,” a senior PWD official said.
During the recent Autumn Assembly Session, PWD Minister HDR Lyngdoh claimed that the department constructs durable and all weather roads, much to the disbelief of the members. Shocked by this reply, UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh said that this reply of the PWD Minster is nothing short of a ‘bed time story’.
remained unattended. How many years more? (ST)
“This tall claim of the PWD Minister in the floor of the House is only a fiction since it just cannot be real looking at the present condition of the road in the city,” Lyngdoh said during the last Assembly session.
The PWD Minister had a different take on the matter and further discussions were put on hold with him stating, “The main reason for the present road condition was because of the stress due to heavy vehicular traffic which we are experiencing.”
(By Lamphrang
Nongspung)