By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 13: The abnormally-delayed retrofitting work on the Umiam dam, which began on December 14 last year, continues to cause inconvenience to daily commuters on either side of the dam with the waiting period for vehicles reaching up to four hours.
Saturday turned out to be a particularly harrowing day for the commutes with extra number of tourist and private vehicles from Assam attempting to enter the city for travel beyond, causing a lot of agony as passengers ended up spending up to four hours to cover the stretch from Umiam to Shillong.
The alternative routes announced by MeECL and the PWD via NEIGRIHMS, Shillong Airport, and Mawlai Mawtawar are in bad shape and involve a longer route due to which they have found no takers since tourist vehicles refuse to traverse the extra distance, citing wastage of fuel. Only a handful of vehicles have been reported to take the alternative routes.
The long queue of vehicles stretches for kilometres on either side of the dam with some reckless drivers overtaking to add to the delay.
The traffic jam and the booming roadside business has also led to accumulation of garbage, as commuters throw papers, wrappers and plastic packets on the roadside.
When contacted, Power Minister AT Mondal told The Shillong Times that the repair work will finish by July-end.