GUWAHATI: Residents of Patharkhmah under Shillong parliamentary constituency who have their names enrolled in remote Mawdem and Bilahari villages along the Meghalaya-Assam border have to cope with bad roads, made worse by rain, to reach their polling stations on voting day.
The forecast from the Regional Meteorological Office at Borjhar here is not that great for the next three days, with light rain anticipated across Meghalaya on April 11, when two parliamentary constituencies, Shillong and Tura, go to the hustings.
“It will be a problem for the voters, particularly women, children and the elderly, who have to travel between 30 and 35km from Patharkhmah (under Jirang Assembly constituency) to get to these villages to exercise their franchise as the road condition has gone from bad to worse following heavy rain over the past few days,” Coming Star Kharbani, a resident of Patharkhmah told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
If the weather holds up, then voters can expect to take vehicles, if at all they are available on voting day, to Warmawsaw, about 16 km from Patharkhmah, to Mawdem and Bilahari villages.
“But given the road condition worsened by incessant rain, I doubt whether any vehicles can ply to Warmawsaw even. In that case, people have to walk all the way to the two villages. However, people here are not discouraged. They will vote,” Kharbani said.
Barring 4km, which has been blacktopped, the 12-km stretch from Warmawsaw to Mawdem has remained dilapidated and work on the remaining distance has been pending since the tenure of former Jirang MLA, JD Rymbai.
Heavy rain coupled with thunderstorm has lashed parts of Northeast over the past few days and there is a likelihood of isolated rain in the coming days.
Asked about the weather prediction in the next three days, Sunit Das, scientist at the Met office, said that light rain is expected across Meghalaya on April 11.
“Isolated rain is expected mainly in Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram in the next two days while light rain is expected over Meghalaya on Thursday. There is a cyclonic circulation over neighbouring Bangladesh in the lower level which has resulted in showers across the region,” Das said.
For villagers of Upper Bagan or Dehal Bagan in Byrnihat area, negotiating six-seven kilometers of a kutcha stretch to the nearest polling station at Harley Bagan too might be a problem but not as challenging as Mawdem and Bilahari.
“The kutcha road is being upgraded to pucca but only two days remain for election. But we should manage, rain or no rain, as we have to make our vote count,” said Abraham S. Sangma, a retired policeman from Dehal Bagan.