By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, June 18: Years have rolled by but the Shillong-Dawki road project, billed as a strategic lifeline connecting Meghalaya with Bangladesh, still remains incomplete.
Behind the still-unfinished highway lies a path paved with diplomatic finesse, cultural negotiation and scientific rigour.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) took up the project under its Official Development Assistance programme, but not before technical studies and clearances tested its every contour.
In 2016-2017, JICA had tasked PADECO Japan to conduct a comprehensive round of feasibility studies — from environmental and social impact assessments to indigenous people plans.
Meghalaya-based environmentalist Naba Bhattacharjee served as the lead advisor for these assessments. Local organisations like NEEDS and Tyrnai Foundation, along with a team of field researchers were also roped in.
What followed was anything but routine.
The road’s proposed alignment ran into a cluster of ancient Khasi-Pnar monoliths — sacred markers tied deeply to the region’s cultural memory – prompting JICA to pause the pre-feasibility process.
Subsequently, experts from Japan held detailed consultations with local traditional heads. The decision was unanimous: the stones would not be touched. The road would shift instead. The delay lasted over three months.
Meanwhile, in the case of the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge, a parallel infrastructure project over the Brahmaputra, environmental concerns again took the centre stage.
Reports of potential river dolphin activity forced a four-month surveillance period, guided by dolphin experts from Assam. Only after no sightings were recorded did the project inch forward.
Bhattacharjee recalled how AT Mondal, the then MLA from Phulbari and now Power Minister, had played a key role in facilitating local logistics during the bridge’s planning phase.
Today, even as construction crawls and deadlines blur, the blueprint of these projects stands as a rare example of development done differently where indigenous knowledge, ecological balance, and international oversight shared the driver’s seat.