SHILLONG, Dec 18: South Shillong MLA Sanbor Shullai’s singlehanded zeal turned into reality the forty-year-old demand of the people of Lumparing to pave a road connecting the locality to Laban.
The pomp and gaiety exhibited during the inauguration of the 0.410-km ‘Shanbor Shullai Road’ was not less than any festival as preachers conducted various rituals before Shullai could cut the ribbon while an anxious crowd eagerly awaited for that to happen.
No sooner the ribbon was cut, than the sound of the firecrackers filled the air and the traditional drum beats with dancers took centre stage as the MLA along with a huge crowd walked towards Lumparing.
“This is a forty-year-old demand of the people and something which I had dreamt of accomplishing and tried very hard to turn it into a reality,” said Shullai, who was elated with his achievement.
Pointing out that the road had to be paved through a graveyard; Shullai said that it needed a lot of convincing and discussions with the stakeholders to finally get their approval.
Recalling that efforts were made earlier by many public representatives to get the job done, Shullai recalled that when he had decided to take steps to get this done, many had presumed it as a joke.
He said that there was a lot of hurdle but he finally managed to get the project sanctioned in the year 2014 and the work was allotted to the contractor on the same year in the month of September.
On the road being named after the MLA, Shullai said that it was the Dorbar Shnong who proposed the name.
Meanwhile, a resident of Lumparing, Aslam Rymbai, said, “Earlier we had to take a detour but now it will save us time and money”.
Yet another resident said that this was a long-felt need of the people of the locality and they can only thank Shullai for making it a possibility.