SHILLONG: Most of the state and the national highways in the state which pass through thick jungle and darkness lack radium lights which acts as night vision for road safety
Be it the newly-constructed road from Umiam to Shillong , busy roads in Shillong town or the road connecting the important town of Tura, it seems the concept of radium lights does not exist in Meghalaya.
A drive on the State PWD roads would reveal that there are very few roads in Meghalaya where radium lights have been fitted which provides a better vision for the driver.
Surprisingly, even the busy roads inside the town which are considered as National Highways does not have the radium lights
A visit to Tura during night shows that radium lights have been fitted on the road for quite a long distance right from Paikan in Assam but as the town of Tura is approached, the radium lights disappear and only few stretches of the road, radium lights are seen.
Even while driving at night on the Umiam-Shillong road, there are no radium lights though other road markings are in place but here too the road lacks other important road safety sign boards.
A visit to the Mawblei Road, however, shows that some radium lights and important road signs are put in place.
On the contrary, driving on many of the Highways in Assam gives a totally different picture as radium lights and other safety features are put in place.
A person who was travelling to Tura via Assam at night remarked, “I feel I am driving on a runway because of the radium lights which also make the road look more beautiful apart from providing better visibility to the people driving at night.
Many observe that the roads in Meghalaya do need such radium lights and other facilities as the roads pass through thick jungles with no visibility
Another driver from Shillong observed, “Recently overlay works on the roads were done throughout Shillong and it would have been better if the department install all the necessary road signages apart from carving mere road markings.
It was also seen that the radium lights along the Guwahati-Shillong road is not working in many places and when the matter was taken up with the implementing agency, it was assured that replacing of the radium lights would be taken up shortly after the rainy season.