MAWKYRWAT, July 9: Peeved at the destruction of crucial roads and bridges as well as alleged administrative inaction, the KSU has decided to take it upon itself to prohibit the plying of overladen trucks in different parts of Ranikor Civil Subdivision.
Speaking to media persons in Mawkyrwat on Tuesday, KSU Ranikor circle president, Marconi Thongni, said the decision was arrived at after taking into account the destruction of roads and bridges in the area by coke-laden trucks, bound for factories in Nongjri area.
“We do not want to ban the trucks from plying but we also have to think about the general public because here in Ranikor area we have about seven weak bridges, including the Umpung bridge, which connects Ranikor area with East Khasi Hills District, which may collapse at any time if the trucks continue to carry overloads, especially during monsoon. We also have seen that the roads were destroyed and the walls were collapsed in many places due to the plying of overladen trucks as well as monsoon,” Thongni said.
Casting aspersions on the district administration for allegedly failing to monitor plying of overladen trucks despite signages being put up, cautioning trucks against carrying more than nine tonnes of weight, the KSU president said, “From July 15, 2024, onwards we will erect a gate in Ranikor to check overloading. No overloaded trucks will be allowed to pass through the Ranikor-Umpung road as well as the Ranikor-Nongnah-Mawkyrwat road.”
It may be mentioned that no sooner had the Umshangkhar Bridge at Mawthong, 25 KMs from Mawkyrwat, collapsed than the district magistrate prohibited the plying of overladen vehicles carrying weight more than nine MT through 25 PWD bridges located in different routes in South West Khasi Hills.
