SHILLONG, April 4: Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong dismissed allegations that stone quarrying and reckless construction by the NHIDCL are the reasons behind Monday’s landslide on the Shillong-Dawki road.
He said climate change is visible in the state and landslides and natural disasters can happen at any place and any time. He said it is impossible for a construction company to avoid landslides in any hill station.
He said the road construction work has started in some places and if it rains, there is bound to be landslides at the construction sites.
The construction work will be affected following the incident of landslide and instructions have been issued to the NHIDCL to make sure it is available as and when such incidents occur. Instructions have been also given to all the divisions of the PWD (Roads) to be ready and vigilant, Tynsong said.
He said blasting, which cannot be avoided to remove huge stones for the road project, might have loosened the soil.
He said there will be no escalation of project cost as the landslide has only eased the work of the contractor who will not need to manually remove the stones as the landslide has removed them from the hills.
