SHILLONG, April 7: Acknowledging the plight of locals in Chiminmingre and Kakwa Duragre region in East Garo Hills, the High Court has asked the state government to approach the central government for an in-principle sanction for construction of roads, the absence of which, it ruled, creates a lot of suffering to the local populace.
“In the event the Union declines to release funds for such purpose, the Union may be impleaded and the reasons for declining the proposal may be ascertained. In the event and in-principle approval is obtained, an abstract of costs should be prepared within two weeks and submitted, so that the work in such regard can be commenced at the earliest and without undue delay,” the HC said in its ruling.
The High Court on Thursday heard a PIL wherein a resident of Jakopgre pointed out that there is no proper road between Chiminmingre and Kakwa Duragre, and hundreds of villagers in the area face difficulties in commuting.
It appears that a road was recently constructed upon due sanction being obtained covering approximately 3.674 km between Chiminmingre and Kakwa Songgitcham, but a section of the road is incomplete since there ought to be a bridge across a river. However, no bridge has been built, the HC observed, adding that the state says that no sanction for such bridge was accorded.
According to the petitioner, the residents in villages in and around Kakwa Duragre, who need to regularly come to Jakopgre Cheminmingre, have only a kutcha road and at least one section where a river has to be crossed.
The petitioner submitted that during the rainy season, it is dangerous to try and cross the river while the condition of the existing kutcha road deteriorates due to rainfall.
The state government has submitted that funds for such roads are sanctioned and provided by the Centre through the Ministry of Rural Development.
The state government also referred to an abstract of the expenses required for the construction of such roads which was submitted in 2018, but it was returned by the office of the Chief Engineer, PWD (Roads), to the Executive Engineer, PWD (Roads), at Williamnagar on the ground that the scheme could not be processed due to financial constraints.