From Our Correspondent
BAGHMARA, July 13: Making a mockery of time frames provided to complete projects, the short 20-km road between Chokpot and Sibbari is yet to see completion with large swathes of the same road becoming almost unusable even for big vehicles.
The matter was highlighted after a social media user posted videos and photos of a section of the road showing the difficulty that even a 4-wheel-drive vehicle faced in moving through the road that resembled more of a mud pool than an actual road. “Someone needs to take notice of the pathetic lives, we as residents of Chokpot area live in. Almost all the roads in our area are in such dilapidation that it makes people pray before taking up travel. We want to appeal to authorities from the state to take action on the matter and provide us relief in the face of such odds,” stated a local resident, Sengjan M Sangma.
The road in question was apparently started during the tenure of the MUA government led by Mukul Sangma in 2017 and despite the passage of time, it is not even halfway complete.
Locals however were not even aware of who the contractor was for the above road as they hardly found workers at the site since ages.
“The little parts that they completed came undone almost immediately after it was completed and now you can literally see no signs of the road ever being constructed. The quality of the work was absolutely sub standard in nature and showed immediately after they did various sections,” he added.
Most roads connecting Chokpot, including the ones connecting Gasuapara and Baromile on the way to Tura are in various stages of dilapidation. The Baromile – Chokpot road is being made in sections and in such a way that once one section completes the other is already fully undone. This same phenomenon has been going on for decades, leaving Chokpot as one of the most underdeveloped C&RD Blocks of the entire state and possibly even in the entire country.
The Chokpot – Gasuapara road is another story altogether with the road being left to fend for itself for over 3 decades. The road is in such a state that residents have been able to use their vehicles only during the dry months.