NEW DELHI: Road network in the North East is likely to get a fillip with the Centre on Thursday declaring major portions of the road linking Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills with neighbouring Assam as new national highways.
Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari declared Nongstoin-Maweti-Nongjri road and the Dkhiah-Sutnga-Saipung-Moulsei-Road as new national highways.
“My ministry has approved these roads as national highways in Meghalaya,” he wrote to Shillong MP Vincent H. Pala.
In an earlier meeting with the Union minister, Pala had demanded that these two roads be declared national highways under the SARDP-NE Phase ‘A’. The major roads linking to Assam will be of 75 km and 84 km stretch.
India is building roads, including 17 highway stretches, in areas near its international borders, including the North East, which will double up as airstrips, Gadkari said. Traffic will be stopped when an airplane lands or takes off.
Last year, Gadkari had spoken of construction of such an airport in Rajasthan and similar projects are being planned in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and some other border states.
While the previous UPA Government had sanctioned construction of 73 strategic roads along the border, Gadkari is scaling it up with timely completion.
