Disposes of a petition pertaining to the AMPT Road in the Garo Hills
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 3: The High Court of Meghalaya on Tuesday disposed of a PIL pertaining to the AMPT Road with a series of directions to ensure that the road is traffic-worthy throughout the year.
During the hearing of the PIL, the state PWD (Roads) filed a status report saying that its Tura office submitted a detailed project report together with cost estimates for the maintenance and repair of the AMPT Road. The exercise has been done segment-wise, it said.
The petitioner, AH Hazarika, said he had no grievances up to the 32 km mark of the road, but several potholes and bad patches surfaced from the 33 km to the 41 km stretch.
The petitioner also said that the road condition was satisfactory from the 51 km to 67 km portion, but the stretch thereafter till the 100 km mark needed immediate attention, particularly because smaller vehicles cannot negotiate them.
The court said that since the PWD (Roads) submitted a report and the AMPT Road is a crucial artery, the state would do well to ensure that adequate funds are made available for the continuous maintenance and repair of the road to make it traffic-worthy throughout the year.
“Running repair work should also be undertaken during monsoon to the extent feasible. Post-monsoon, there should be a complete overhaul on a regular basis so that there can be vehicular movement without any impediment,” the court said.
In view of several previous reports and the work done on the entire road, the present petition was closed with liberty to both the petitioner and any other public-spirited person to draw the attention of the court to the state of the road, if the condition deteriorates or if no immediate action is taken by the appropriate authorities.