JOWAI, July 29: Peeved at the delay in the construction of a road project, locals from Hingaria, Huroi, Lahalein and Lejri along the Indo-Bangladesh border, under the umbrella of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), have warned of agitation against the state government lest the project continues to remain mothballed.
Slamming the state government and the North Eastern Council (NEC) for their “bias attitude” towards the rural populace, the villagers rued that the Sonapur-Borkhat road project, under the North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS), has been impeded for years due to the lack of political will.
“We once again wish to appeal to the Government of Meghalaya, NEC and DoNER Ministry to see that the much-delayed project of Sonapur-Borkhat road is approved as soon as possible without looking for any political consideration. The people deserve the road and hence should be sanctioned as priority,” the locals said in a petition.
“Any further delay in approving the road project will only invite agitation from the people of the border village. We will lead a much larger and bigger protest against the Government and even NEC if the request is not met within a reasonable period of time. We will not shy away from even protesting before the Meghalaya Secretariat and NEC office, if need be,” they warned.
It may be mentioned that the detailed project report (DPR) for Sonapur-Borkhar road was submitted back in 2008-09 and was forwarded to the DoNER Ministry for approval. However, till date the same is yet to be approved.
The Meghalaya Government, on the other hand, had in March petitioned the NEC for an immediate sanction of Rs 62.20 crore for the first phase of the construction of the road project. However, despite that, the NEC is yet to recommend the Sonapur-Borkhat road for approval to the DoNER Ministry.
“What angers us the most is the fact that the NEC has instead recommended a project in the state of Nagaland for which the DPR was submitted on 30th December 2020, and consequent to this, recommendation to the DoNER Ministry was approved and the project was sanctioned in March 2021,” they said.
“Our road project was proposed very long time but even then the NEC officials did not deem it fit for recommendation,” they rued.
