Opposition corners government on issue
SHILLONG: Opposition leaders from West Khasi Hills cornered the State Government in the Assembly on Thursday over poor alignment and frequent accidents on the newly constructed Shillong-Nongstoin-Tura Road and dilapidated roads in the district.
Moving a resolution on poor road condition in West Khasi Hills, HSPDP MLA Witting Mawsor expressed his concern over the frequent road accidents on the national highway.
Supporting the resolution, Nongstoin MLA D Jyndiang said the newly constructed road should not have too many curves which are causing accidents and high casualties.
Jyndiang also said the particular road should be re-aligned to make it safe, adding that the Government should carefully plan other major road projects which would come all the way till Nongstoin.
Nongkrem MLA Ardent Basaiawmoit later alleged that the State Government is meting out step-motherly treatment to West Khasi Hills.
On frequent road accidents on the Shillong-Nongstoin-Tura Road, Basaiawmoit asked if security audit has been conducted on the road. He lamented that if measures are not taken to reduce accidents, the road in future would be tagged as fatal.
He also demanded an inquiry into how many people have been killed so far on the road.
Opposing the resolution, Congress’ Mawkyrwat MLA Rowell Lyngdoh said the Government “is trying its best to construct roads everywhere in the State though he admitted that maintenance is a concern”.
Lyngdoh asked the Government to allocate more funds for development and quality of roads.
NPP MLA Nihim Shira wanted to know whether the newly constructed road can be re-aligned. He also suggested that the speed of the vehicles on the road should have been 60 km per hour but on many stretches, the speed is only 20-30 km per hour.
In his reply, PWD (Road) Minister M.M Danggo said, “The Government is paying due attention to the roads in the district.”
While giving figures, he said that in the year 2016-17, the Government sanctioned four projects for Nartiang division and three projects in Nongstoin division at a cost of Rs 663 lakh and Rs 395 lakh respectively.
Disagreeing with the opposition, the minister said that the Shillong-Nongstoin-Tura road is the biggest achievement of Meghalaya even as he added that more and more people have now started using the particular road while visiting Garo Hills from Shillong or vice versa.
He also did not agree with the opposition that the alignment of the road is poor and added that people are driving fast on the road.
“Accidents may not be due to wrong alignment but due to the negligence of the drivers as well,” he added.