NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Lok Sabha member from Shillong Vincent H Pala on Monday voiced serious concern in Parliament over the pitiable condition of roads in Meghalaya in certain stretches and urged the Centre to rush a team for an on-the-spot visit and immediate action.
The former Union Minister brought to the notice of Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, that no major road development work has been taken up yet on the Nongstoin-Maweit-Nongjri (75 km) and Dkhiah-Sutnga-Saipung-Moulsei (84 km) stretches though the same were approved five years ago.
The Union Ministry had approved these two major roads linking Meghalaya with Assam as national highways.
People are facing insurmountable problems and it is even getting difficult to commute to places because of lack of adequate connectivity, Pala said.
The slow pace of road construction has also halted the economic activities around the area. These stretches of roads were approved under SARDP-NE Phase ‘A’.
Phase ‘A’ involves improvement/ construction of 4099 km of roads (2,041 km of NH and 2,058 km of state and other roads) at an estimated cost of Rs 21,769 crore.
“I would appreciate it if you could send a central team who can decide on the issue and initiate actions to improve roads in the state and speed up the construction process using innovative techniques at the earliest,” Pala said.
He raised the matter under Rule 377 under which members are allowed to raise matters which have not been raised during the same session under any other Rule.
