SHILLONG: Youths belonging to four villages located on the India-Bangladesh border in East Jaintia Hills on Monday apprised Meghalaya Governor Banwarilal Purohit of the lack of development in the district.
The youths hailed from Huroi, Hingaria, Lailong and Lejri villages.
In a memorandum to the Governor, the youths highlighted the poor condition of the Sonapur-Borkhat road (NH 44), the absence of primary health centres and mobile connectivity.
“The Sonapur-Borkhat road is a kutcha road filled with mud and water and as such the road is not motorable during the rainy season. Around 10 kilometres of the road has been metalled way back in the year 2012, while the other portion remained kutcha till date,” the memorandum said.
Referring to the absence of PHCs, it was stated in the memorandum that villages have only one sub-centre under Umkiang PHC, which is about 60 km away, and worse still, without a doctor.
On the absence of mobile network connectivity, it was stated in the memorandum that the people were compelled to use Bangladesh mobile connections that are easily accessible in these villages.
“The villages being located in the neglected most part of the state is living at the mercy of the Bangladeshi people who provide us with our daily domestic needs,” the memorandum said.
The aggrieved villages have from time to time requested the local MLA, MDC and MP, the district administration and the government to build proper roads for the villages.
However , no appropriate action was taken to build the road.
They went on to state that the situation is so bad, that one of the villages, Huroi, has decided to boycott the upcoming Assembly election because of the government inaction.
“There has been a proposal by the PWD(R), NEC Khliehriat to repair the road with an estimate amount of Rs 64 crore. The proposal was submitted to the government in December 2016 but no action was taken by the government to approve the same,” they wrote in the memorandum.
“Similarly, the PWD(R) has proposed a road project Rymbai-Borkhat-Jalalpur road worth Rs 94 crore in 2011. The proposal was submitted to the North Eastern Council (NEC) for approval but the government took no action to get the approval.”
The Governor assured the youths that he would treat the matter as top priority and take all possible action at the earliest to help the villagers.
He also said he would talk and write to the Chief Minister of Meghalaya on the matter.
