SHILLONG: Miffed with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) over the deplorable condition of National Highway-6, assistant Waheh Chnong of Umkiang village, Kynjaimon Amse has demanded of the NHAI to repair the road within a period of 14 days, failing which the village authority will close down the Lumshnong toll gate.
In a letter to the Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills,
Amse described the NH-6 from Khliehriat to Ratacherra as the “highway to death”.
“The NHAI have compromised with the safety of the people by not undertaking proper repairing of the road despite collecting lakhs of rupees daily from Lumshnong toll gate”, he said.
Amse said that the NHAI has no right to collect toll from the
commuters given the pathetic and deplorable condition of the road, while stating that the NHAI should immediately start undertaking repair work of the road.
“If the NHAI says that it cannot build or repair the road during
raining season, it should also not collect the toll. We cannot let NHAI compromise the safety and lives of the people and as such, we expect them to take corrective measures at the earliest”, Amse said.
“The highway has become the cause of many road accidents besides making the vehicles breakdown frequently. With the present condition of the highway, people can simply say that the road is a ‘Highway to Death’”, the letter to the DC read.
In the petition to the DC, he also enclosed photographs of the road arguing that it can no longer be called a national highway as it is full of potholes filled with water and mud.
Pointing out that the this frequent phenomena has cast doubt upon the minds of the public about the quality of the road constructed by the NHAI despite the huge amount of funds incurred for its construction, Amse said that there are some stretches of the NH-6, particularly in Umkiang village, Sonapyrdi village, Tongseng etc, which cannot actually be called national highways as there are no signs of a road anymore.
“The road is very dirty filled with water and mud, unfit even for
walking. There are fishing ponds in many parts of the road making lives difficult”, Amse said.
Mentioning about the quality of bridges constructed by the NHAI, which he said are filled with water and turned into swimming pool anytime there was heavy rainfall due to no means of releasing the water, he complained about huge water logging in the bridges, which is a threat to the people.
Terming the drainage system of the national highway as a failure, he said that it has been constructed carelessly and all the water has been running through the highway thereby leading to its destruction.
As the road has no more boulders or bitumen on it, people have threatened to start fishing, boating, swimming and even planting paddy and vegetables on the road, Amse said.
Amse, therefore, said that the government should order a safety audit of the road while the NHAI should work over its repair work in a proper manner.
“All bridges should be re-accessed and measures should be taken for discharging water. The drainage system should also be repaired”, he said.
