Villagers repair neglected roads

SHILLONG: The residents of the villages located in the Indo- Bangladesh border- Hingaria, Huroi, Lahalein and Lahajri in East Jaintia Hills district, were compelled to assemble and manually repair the neglected roads leading to the village of Hingaria recently.
The border areas are the most neglected parts of the state as seen from the pathetic condition of the ‘kacha roads’ that run through these villages which are often unfit for commute during monsoon season causing hurdles for the villagers.
The residents of Hingaria village repaired and reconstructed the kacha road to prevent land slide in the area.
The purpose was also to make it easier for the villagers to travel to the markets and medical centres in Lad Rymbai and Jowai since most of the residents of the area are farmers who manage a large produce in the border areas.
In a statement, the villagers lamented that since the formation of the Hingaria village in 1963, there have been no roads constructed so far.
They added that in 1984, the kacha road was constructed to cover the villages- Borghat, Hingaria, Huroi up till Sunapur (Sunapyrdi) by the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF).
However, it is surprising that the construction of the road has not yet been completed ever since its handover to Public Works Department (PWD), they said.
“In the recent years, PWD would often come and cover up their tracks by sending JCB vehicles to
submerge the road with soil in order to hinder the movement of vehicles during monsoon season”, they complained.
The aggrieved villagers lamented that the neglect and abandonment of the residents of these areas by the government is as though they are not the citizens of the state.
Accusing the government of turning a blind eye to the plights of the people of the Indo- Bangladesh region, they said that it considered the conservation of nature more important than the lives of the people.