SHILLONG, OCT 23: The Ri Bhoi Students’ Union (RBSU) has demanded for upgrading the Umsning-Mawhati-Jagiroad (Assam) road into a two-lane, which will act as an alternative route for commuters, who often falls victim to the landslide prone NH-40 in recent days.
“The state’s National Highway – 40 in the district has become a landslide prone area due to the unscientific cutting of hills to pave way for the 4-lane project,” RBSU president Everldy Nongpluh said during a press conference on Thursday.
According to him, in July 2012, three persons were killed following a huge landslide after a heavy downpour in the area. The corpses were extricated from under several tones of debris.
“Again this month, the state witnessed another landslide at Umling which had claimed the life of one and had brought the traffic to a standstill,” Nongpluh said adding “This has caused hardships to all the commuters who were left stranded and had missed all their schedules.”
He informed that on both occasions, the Umsning-Mawhati-Jagiroad (Assam) road was used as an alternate route and this route became a savior to all the commuters as the traffic was diverted through this route.
Keeping this in mind, he said, “We urged the government on the need to upgrade the Umsning-Mawhati-Jagiroad (Assam) road into a two-lane.”
“It is high time for both the central and the state government to give prior importance to this route and upgrade it into a 2-lane which will be best used by the commuters plying towards Upper Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, as the present distance from Umsning upto Jagiroad is only 80 kms which could be cut short if the curved roads are straightened.”
The union also proposed that this route be named as the “Umsning-Nongpoh-Jorabad By-Pass.”
This will not only cut short on both time and distance for the commuters, but on the other hand, it will also bring about economic development to the villagers of Mawhati constituency, he stated.- By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours