Baghmara: There is a saying amongst locals that if you wish to come across turbulence and near-death experience you should travel on the Baghmara state highway in South Garo Hills.
There couldn’t be a better statement.
Replete with deep pits and potholes, the national highway 62 that runs from Baghmara to Gasuapara, a distance of 48 kms, is a nightmare for travellers.
Strewn with up to one foot ditches, there is no mercy for two or four wheeler drivers who go through knee jerking experiences as they try and manoeuvre the deep gorges and ditches that run extremely high sending migranes to the head and shivers down the spine.
The road from Tura to Baghmara, district headquarters of South Garo Hills, is approximately 122 kms.
A journey from Tura that normally took two and a half hours now requires nothing short of four and a half hours of challenging back-breaking experience.
People in urgent need of travel, especially patients requiring medical care outside, have a harrowing time on the road when time is most critical.
“Top officials and politicians always complain about Baghmara having poor attendance in government offices. But how can once function under such deplorable conditions when even basic road communication is so poor,” rued a government employee requesting anonymity.
Militancy is said to have resulted in road work stalling for well over six years in the southern region.
State PWD sources reveal that the Baghmara to Dumnikura stretch of the state highway has been without annual repair for the past couple of years because of militancy in the region. The banned GNLA spread terror throughout the region for several years and this was replicated by another outfit, ASAK, which began to harass government officials for extortion money soon after.
An effort to start some form of repair in March this year came to a naught after a state ban on stone quarrying that resulted in shortfall of material for road construction.
The deplorable road condition has forced many transport operators to halt operations causing prices of goods to spiral out of control.
Meanwhile, there is some semblance of good news for the several thousand citizens of South Garo Hills.
Highly placed state PWD officials have informed this correspondent that the major damage to the road from Baghmara to Dumnikura, a distance of approximately 32 km, has been cleared for the periodic repair which will include filling up of all potholes and black topping.
An additional seven km of the same road, from Eringre towards Sibbari, is to be provided with minor repair that includes refilling all pot holes.
