SHILLONG, July 19: The High Court of Meghalaya on Wednesday hoped that the remaining repair work on a bad 7 km stretch of the Jowai Bypass from Thadlaskein to Mihmyntdu would be completed within this month.
During the hearing of a PIL on Wednesday, reports were filed by the state PWD (Roads) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) pertaining to the Jowai-Ratacherra stretch of the NH-6.
The real problem pertains to the virtually unmotorable 7 km stretch that vehicles take to avoid the traffic congestion in Jowai, the court observed.
Though the rest of NH-6 is maintained by the NHAI, the 7 km stretch of the Jowai Bypass is maintained by PWD (Roads). The condition of this stretch is so pitiable that heavy vehicles suffer serious breakdowns and lesser vehicles these days prefer to take the longer route through Jowai, the court said.
In its status report, the state PWD (Roads) appended photographs of the repair work of the pavements and the road being undertaken.
The state had submitted that repair work had been undertaken before the heavy rains in June, which washed away the blacktop. The same contractor is undertaking the post-rain repair work, which should be completed within a reasonable, it said. “Almost half the monsoon season is over and during such period, the bypass has well-nigh remained unmotorable. As indicated earlier, road construction or repair works have to take into account the heavy rains here in the monsoon and it will not pass an excuse to suggest that because of the monsoon or a few spells of heavy rain, the road has been damaged to the extent that it has been. It is hoped that the balance repair work is completed within this month and extra care is taken to undertake patchwork, wherever necessary, for the remainder of the monsoon season to ensure that the colossal waste of vehicles needing to travel the extra 30 km or so by avoiding the bypass is no longer necessary,” a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh said.
Kynjaimon Amse, the petitioner pointed out that the report filed by the NHAI indicates certain man-made problems which ought to be addressed by the state. For instance, car wash outlets have sprung up along state and national highways without any drainage system or any parameters apparently being put in place in such regard. As a result, the water from such car wash centres runs down the highways or forms puddles in places causing additional damage to what the monsoon rains may cause.
The NHAI report also indicated that the haphazard laying of pipelines along the side of the Jowai-Ratacherra stretch has resulted in leaks in several places, compounding the problems of water accumulation and erosion of the blacktop.
“These and several of the other issues raised in the NHAI report must be addressed by the local administration and some parameters put in place for car wash units to adhere to, including payment of license fees or the like. Both the state and the NHAI will file further reports when the matter appears next four weeks hence. The state would do well to convene a meeting with the representatives of the NHAI and the local administration to address the particular problems pertaining to the Jowai-Ratacherra stretch of NH-6,” the court said.
