By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 5: The 102.255 km Jowai-Ratacherra section of National Highway 6 will undergo reinforcement and renovation by the January next year, an NHAI official said on Sunday.
“A contractor has been hired to handle the reconstruction and repair work from Jowai to the Sonapur tunnel. A second contractor will cover the stretch between Sonapur and Ratacherra,” the NHAI official told The Shillong Times.
“We are currently filling the potholes with black topping. Within this month, we hope to seal the potholes along this 102-km highway. The entire rehabilitation of the Jowai-Ratacherra segment is scheduled to be finished in January,” the official stated.
It should be noted that the NHAI recently announced that MR Construction has been hired to perform repairs from Jowai (km 69.20) to Sonapur (km 141.50), and SL Infra, hired on September 29, will carry out repair operations from Sonapur (km 141+500) to Ratacherra (km 171.455).
The construction has been ongoing for the past 40 days, according to information provided on Sunday by East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner, Abhilash Baranwal.
“They have hired two contractors but things are moving a little slowly. More resources must be mobilised,” Baranwal said.
Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong had met with representatives from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH), and the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in Delhi in September.
Following this meeting, he had announced that the NH-6 repair work will begin right away.
It should be noted that the NHAI has recently come under fire from the High Court of Meghalaya for the poor state of NH-6.
The horrendous state of the potholed NH-6 was presented to the court in the form of photos.
“This is completely unacceptable in a civilised country and it is a shame that the court has to remind a central body as the NHAI as to what its duties and responsibilities may be,” the bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice B Bhattacharjee had observed.
“As it stands, the state’s geography is challenging to navigate, and remote places are in need of supplies and necessities. The Jowai-Ratacherra portion of NH-6 is extremely bad, which entirely interrupts this supply chain,” the court said, while hoping that NHAI would finish the necessary repairs to make the entire section from Jowai to Ratacherra more passable by November.
Years of neglect have caused considerable damage to the arterial highway. The problem has gotten worse following the rainy season, which has transformed the potholes into tiny ponds and mud traps.
