SHILLONG: The State Planning Board has urged the State PWD (Roads) to come up with a policy to look at the various aspects of road construction, besides dealing with several issues of road width and ownership.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, co-chairman of the Board John F Kharshiing said the Board also sought a report from the department on its earlier order of converting all wooden bridges to concrete ones and the department would come up with a report shortly.
Stating that PMGSY physical progress is monitored through technological solutions, Kharshiing suggested adoption of similar technological advancement to monitor the progress of the PWD roads.
According to Kharshiing, encroachment on roads was also discussed and PWD has sought the help of village heads to solve the problem.
The Planning Board also stressed on better night vision signs along highways, besides construction of over-bridges on the Guwahati-Shillong road since villagers find it difficult to cross the road.
The lack of coordination between different line departments was also discussed and the line departments, including the Municipal Board, has been asked to issue NOC for any commercial establishment after holding consultations with the PWD since there was one instance when the Municipal Board issued NOC for a shop for encroaching on the road.
Meanwhile, Kharshiing said the PWD (Building) has asked for State government’s sanction to review old buildings since the State is prone to earthquakes.
During the meeting, the Board also asked the department to ensure that residential schools coming up under the Asian Development Bank project are earthquake resilient even as the Board expressed concern over non-allocation of fund for construction of boundary walls of schools sanctioned under the project.
