By Afaque Hussain
SHILLONG: Around 7 kilometers down the biggest town of Garo Hills, Tura, lies the plains belt which, despite having huge potential in the field of agriculture, continues to remain neglected.
As one comes down the high hills of Garo Hills, one is confronted with the plains belt with large swathes of cultivable land that can bring huge benefit to Meghalaya and its people.
Right after Garobadha, one can see huge cultivable lands which can produce large quantity of edibles for the people of Meghalaya but the biggest challenge in the neighbouring constituencies of Rajabala, Phulbari and Selsella is poor condition of roads.
Apart from the Selsella-Phulbari road, another road connects the areas of Garobadha to the plains of Rajabala and Phulbari and this road goes just close to the inter-state border. Some stretches of this road fall under both Assam and Meghalaya, say locals.
The road from Garobadha to Phulbari is more than 40 km but it takes nearly two hours to drive on the uneven and muddy road. One needs a strong heart and healthy body to travel on this road.
There is another road that connects areas like Phulbari, Rajabala and Tura via Selsella. This road too is far from satisfactory but is in a better condition than the others.
Speaking on the matter, local MLA from Phulbari SG Estamur Mominin said the roads in the area are in deplorable condition since last 10 years and a tender was also called to repair it from Phulbari to Tura via Selsella but the contractor never started the work.
He, however, said the new government has now sanctioned Rs 59 crore for the construction of the road
Talking about the farming opportunities in the plains of Garo Hills, he said the previous MUA government did nothing to tap the potential of the plains and the previous government was not at all interested in developing the areas.
He said the plains of Garo Hills can prosper if the Rongai Valley Medium Irrigation project is revived. “The matter of reviving the project has been taken up with the Centre and the government has given positive indications,” he added.
A different picture
On the other hand, a visit to Ampati constituency, which was earlier nurtured by former chief minister and Congress candidate Mukul Sangma, presents a completely different picture.
Here, the road from Garobadha to Ampati is in good condition though there is hardly any traffic.
It was seen that the roads were in excellent condition with paved shoulders and different safety signage.
Some observed that apart from Tura-Williamnagar road, this is probably the best road in Garo Hills as, according to them, such a well-maintained road does not exist even inside Tura town.
Other roads
Main highways in Tura are somehow satisfactory but the problems come in rural areas where connectivity is a major issue and on the way to Salmanpara, the road is in a poor condition.
Two wooden bridges which connect Salmanpara are in a dilapidated condition and even the convoy of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who visited Salmanpara for campaign, had to use an alternate muddy road next to the two wooden bridges.
People say Garo Hills has huge potential as far as its horticultural and agricultural products are concerned but the region needs better roads.
The residents of Garo Hills say that at a time when there are four lanes and expressways, many internal areas of Garo Hills are connected by poor roads which are single lane and many of the roads have wooden bridges.
“Whichever party forms the government and whichever candidate is elected from Tura, their first priority should be to improve the connectivity in the internal parts of Garo Hills which would bring prosperity and improve the living condition of people,” they said.
The road connectivity in Garo Hills has improved recently after the Shillong-Nongstoin-Williamnagar-Tura road was completed a few years back.
However, future for Garo Hills as far as road connectivity is concerned is not that bleak as there are different road projects which are in the pipeline including the Tura –Dalu road, Dudhnoi-Damra,Nengkra-Williamnagar and project on NH 127- B which are to be implemented by the NHIDCL in the coming years and all these projects are in different stages of paper works.