Umkiang village threatens to close down NHAI toll gate over pathetic road condition

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 19, 2020

The dorbar of Umkiang village in East Jaintia Hills district has demanded the state government to order for a “safety audit” of the National Highway-6 from Khliehriat to Ratacherra, which at present is in a pathetic and deplorable condition. 

The dorbar has also threatened to close down the NHAI toll gate at Lumshnong if repair work is not taken up within 14 days.

Submitting a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, FM Dopth on Wednesday, Umkiang assistant waheh shnong, Kynjaimon Amse said, “The government should order a safety audit of the road.”

He said the government should also ask the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to immediately repair and re-construct the road in a proper manner and of the highest quality.

He said as seen in the photographs submitted, the NH-6 can no longer be called a national highway as the road is full of potholes filled with water and mud and this has caused a threat to the lives and safety of the people who are commuting through this national highway. 

“The highway has become a cause of the many road accidents and has caused many vehicles to break down frequently. With the present condition of the highway, people can simply say that the road is a “Highway to Death”,” he said. 

The assistant headman further said that the NHAI is receiving tens of lakhs rupees from its toll gate at Lumshnong but yet it has compromised with the safety of the people by not undertaking proper repairing of the road.

“The NHAI has no right to collect toll from the commuters with the present pathetic and deplorable condition of the road,” he said adding “We demand that the NHAI should immediately start undertaking repairing work of the road within a period of 14 days failing which we will have to take recourse to closure of the Lumshnong toll gate in the best interest of the public.”

Amse also suggested the government take immediate corrective measures before people jump to the road as he stated, “People have threatened to start fishing, boating, swimming and planting paddy and vegetables on the road as there are no more boulders and bitumen on the road.”