Baghmara, April 14: For the lakhs of residents from the district of South Garo Hills (SGH), the National Highway 62 is a lifeline. However, the sorry state of the road continues to haunt them though it has been decades since the district was formed.
The 145-km-long, so called NH begins from the town of Dudhnoi in Assam before snaking through the entire South Garo Hills and ending at Karongre near Dalu in West Garo Hills.
Beginning from Dudhnoi up to Jadi South Garo Hills, the road is a pleasure to drive on despite quite a few hair pin bends. The mesmerizing view of nature in Garo Hills will soothe the eyes though deforestation has made things less agreeable.
Once you cross Jadi, the nightmare begins and continues for over 80 kms despite passing through some of the most beautiful sights in the entire state of Meghalaya. Believe me, you will care less for the sights than to protect your car from all the rigmarole it will go through. The state of the road between these places is such that none will differentiate between two particular places. Every part of the more than 80 km journey is equally bad.
You begin from Jadi and continue up to Karukol, arguably the worst section of the lot. The torrential rainfall that hit the district has had a worsening effect on the road situation. During the continuous rains that followed for close to a week, the tottering road infrastructure lost many road sections, timber bridges and connectivity was almost blocked for close to a month. Relief had to be air dropped in quite a few places in the district as it remained cut off from the rest of the state.
While connectivity has been restored, including the timber bridge at Karukol but the situation for commuters has worsened. Further with coal trucks moving through the road, no respite has been possible.
Earlier NH -62 was famous for its more than 18 numbers of rickety timber bridges. These bridges have been replaced in the most places though some still exist. These were a permanent fixture through the route since the inception of the road. Interestingly, it took close to a decade to get these changed to the more sturdy and modern RCC bridges.
The route connects Dudhnoi, Rongjeng in EGH, Nongalbibra, Siju, Baghmara, Sibbari, Gasuapara before ending at Karongre in WGH.
“It is torture for most of us that we have to travel to far off places. It takes more than 4 hours for us to reach Tura, which is only about 115 kms away. To get to Dudhnoi takes a similar amount of time despite more than half the route being in excellent condition. We have made multiple representations to road officials of the state PWD to ensure the road was made proper, but that has made no headway. We still continue to suffer,” said activist, Greneth Sangma in Baghmara, the district headquarter of SGH.
“Repairs on the road have been extremely intermittent due to which travel has become hazardous and tiring. Moreover the lesser said about the quality of repairs is best left unspoken. We just wish someone takes up the issue at the earliest so that people can heave a collective sigh of relief,” felt Sibbari resident, Tengrak Sangma.
Despite the border road being narrower, most people while going to Tura or Dalu use the route. However this alternative road only remains open until 5 PM due to its proximity with Bangladesh and the need of the BSF men to monitor movement.
There however could be a silver lining for the people of SGH as, according to district officials, the sanction of a new road is likely soon.
“Survey on the road has been completed and we are almost at 90% in land acquisition. The road construction will be handled by the Central PWD and the NHIDCL. However, we are awaiting sanction from MoRTH before the tendering process begins. Hopefully that will be soon,” informed deputy commissioner Shivansh Awasthi.
For the people of the district however relief is the first thing they want.
“We want relief from the dust that we have to inhale on a daily basis, the bone jarring experience that we face daily and the trauma that people with medical issues face. We have been hearing of a new road being sanctioned since the past few decades but nothing has borne fruit yet. We have suffered through almost 3 decades on the same road. We will only believe once the entire road project is sanctioned, tendered and announced,” added another Baghmara resident, DP Marak.
Until that happens, the people will continue to suffer like they have been conditioned to without a word of complaint. For them, it has become their fate.