‘Govt’s talks about infra devp rarely translate into action’
SHILLONG: It is more than four years since the Meghalaya Government created North Garo Hills district but it continues to suffer from major connectivity issues and poor road condition.
A recent visit to North Garo Hills – which was carved out of East Garo Hills on July 27, 2012 – by a group of journalists revealed that the road condition there is far from satisfactory and the small roads are full of potholes and dust.
The existing road from Dudhnoi to Mendipathar and Resubelpara is in a shambles. The roads are narrow and the top layer has completely eroded.
On the way, the reporters also saw that work was going on at a snail’s pace for a bridge near Mendipathar and presently vehicles pass through a wooden bridge, which looks like it could collapse any moment.
A few locals told the reporters that connectivity is a major problem in North Garo Hills and rued that public transport is almost negligible.
There were repeated requests to the visiting journalists to highlight the decrepit condition of the public stand of the mini stadium in Resubelpara that often holds many sporting events.
“So many young students have been injured on these stands as they are very weak. Please highlight it in the media so that the Government repairs these stands,” a resident of Resubelpara said.
North Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Sibhi Chakravarthy Sadhu admitted that connectivity is a major issue and said repairing of the road from Mendipathar to Resubelpara has been sanctioned and construction work on the top layer would begin soon.
Sadhu also said the chief minister recently visited the district to hold review meetings and he had directed the departments concerned to address all the issues fast besides directing the Deputy Commissioner to send him a status report of the various projects being implemented in the district.
The DC further said the PWD has been asked to pull up the contractors for pending development projects.
Responding to a question about the risk that people have to take while crossing the wooden bridge, Sadhu said the particular bridge was washed out in the 2014 floods but money for its repair and maintenance has been sanctioned and work has also started.