Meghalaya’s bad roads and highways: KSU cultivates paddy on NH 06

Potholes, ditches, big puddles of water, mud and slush. This is what National Highway (NH) 6, the highway that connects Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura is filled with. The highway that is supposed to be the lifeline of these northeastern states, is more like a field where you can sow paddy than drive vehicles.

Members of the Khasi Students Union (KSU) today staged a massive protest in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district alleging that the government is ignoring the dilapidated condition of the Highway that connects the region with the rest of the country.
Never witnessed before, the KSU members as a mark of protest were seen cultivating paddy along stretches of the highway filled with potholes filled with mud and water. This comes days after 5 MPs from Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura wrote to Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari seeking his urgent intervention to fix the highway.
KSU who would be protesting on the Highway starting tomorrow from 7PM to 5AM everyday for a week, has sought cooperation to their agitation from the people of Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur who commute through this vital road link.
Shillong Lok Sabha MP Vincent Pala (Meghalaya), Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy (Assam), Karbi Anglong Lok Sabha MP Haren Singh Bey (Assam), Tripura East MP Rebati Tripura and Mizoram Lok Sabha MP C Lalrosanga wrote to the Union Minister stating, “The state of NH-6 is currently in a severly dilapidated condition, causing immense inconvenience to the people of these regions and posing a significant threat to their safety.”
On August 8, the NHAI authorities had assured the pressure group that it will repair the Highway in the stretch falling under East Jaintia Hills within six weeks.
On September 20, the Meghalaya High Court too had expressed serious concern over the condition of National Highway-6. “The present condition is totally unacceptable, monsoon or otherwise,” the court had said.