SHILLONG: The State Planning Board will have a discussion with the State Government about the closure of PWD roads by the Army authorities in the city.
Co-chairman of the State Planning Board, John F Kharshiing while speaking to media after a working group of the Board held a review meeting with the PWD said that the opening of the roads would have eased the traffic congestion in the town.
“Since it is a PWD road, the Board will discuss the matter with the State Government to take up the matter with the Army Authorities
With regard to the Laitkor Peak where tourist vehicles are not allowed to leave the area from other gates, Kharshiing said that the Tourist Taxi Associations have petitioned them asking that the tourist taxis should be allowed to enter and leave Laitkor peak area from both the gates.
Kharshiing said that if the vehicles are allowed to exit from Laitkor gate, tourists would have an easy access to the other tourists spots in area like Laitlum, Nongkrem and others whereas the tourists at the moment after going to Laitkor Peak from Upper Shillong area has to come all the way to town and then proceed to other spots.
He also added that the road at Laitkor Peak belongs to PWD and vehicles should be allowed to ply through the area on that road.
The Planning Board was also not happy with the geometrics as far as road projects are concerned in the state saying the geometrics are quite poor and the department has been asked to take up the matter with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)
Giving statistics about the road coverage in Meghalaya, Kharshiing added that the black topped roads in the state as on April 1, 2017 stands at 6689 km while the gravel road in the state is 1018 km and Kutcha roads are 1959 km.” We still have a long way to go in this sector and even allocation of fund is low,” he said
As per Kharshiing, 3672 villages in the state have been connected while 2354 villages are yet to be connected
Stating that the total road length in the state is 9666 km, he added that the road density in the state is 43.10 km per 100 sq km area.
Meanwhile, the Board has also asked the department to go for more scrutiny and monitoring of quality of roads since the state is affected by long monsoon.
With regards to PWD (Buildings), Kharshiing added that the construction of district offices and mini Secretariats in the four newly-constituted for Districts was going on.