TURA, JULY 4: The deplorable road condition of South Garo hills has been an eyesore for decades. Time and again different organisations have been raising this issue but no one in the government seems to be bothered. Irked by the negligence of the Public Works Department (PWD), the Garo Students Union (GSU) sought immediate government intervention to look into the issue.
The sorry state of affairs has been a hindrance to the people in South Garo hills, which has put the district in the remotest corner of the country as one of the most “backward” districtin the state.
The by-election to Chokpot constituency in June was also fought on the issue of backwardness of the region and its deplorable road condition. Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma, who campaigned for Congress candidate Bluebell Sangma also use this a plank for appeal for votes .
However, claims of improving the region seems to be hollow as the district prone to insurgency poses a serious threat on contractors as they refuses to take up work in the district for fear of the militants.
The distance from Tura town, the district headquarter of West Garo Hills to Baghmara, the district headquarter of South Garo Hills is about 106 kms. There are about 100 wooden bridge on the route coupled with pathetic road condition, which makes travel difficult.
The district is dubbed as a hotspot for tourism destination. However, the road condition has posed a hurdle for promoting of the region. Balpakram National Park and Siju Wildlife Sanctuary located in the district is rich in bio diversity and diversity of flora and fauna.
A travel from Tura to Baghmara takes about 5 hours. In rainy season, the travel becomes difficult, as there are fears of wooden bridge collapse. Last month, several wooden bridges had collapsed, disconnecting the region for at least four days.
On Friday, the GSU Southern Zone submitted a reminder memorandum to PWD minister S Dhar seeking immediate attention of the government to improve the two national highways in the district – NH – 51 and NH – 62.- From Our Correspondent
All the NGOs and the people of South Garo Hills should come together and try to bring immediate attenrtion to Government of Meghalaya to improve the pathetic road condtion which is chronic in nature. It is because of not only the insurgency problem but because of sheer negligence and step motherly attitude of our state government towards the people of this most backward district of the state. More than 35 years ago when l was a primary school student, our teacher taught us that Dalu to Paikan is a National Highway 52. Do this road look like a National Highway? Even a light and heavy vehicle can not pass easily that are coming from the opposite sides as the edges of the road has broken and became like the width of a village link road. Big big pot holes are common sights and the travellers of any vehicle have to feel the taste of jerking all along the road. NH 62 form Dalu to Dudhnoi via Baghmara which was declared recently and other state PWD roads is a distant dream for improvement Its really a shameful act on the part of our successive government whose sole duty is do equal and all round development with other districts of the state.So all the NGOs leaders and general publics of South Garo Hills should come together and pressurise the Government for early solution of this chronic bad road condtion.