The Meghalaya government has agreed to fund the balance portion of Rs. 88.33 crore (Phase-II) of the Borkhat-Sonapur Road and to complete the whole project in case North East Road sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) is not continued during the 15th Finance Commission period.
A letter in this regard was sent by the Officer on Special Duty, Planning Department to the Secretary, North Eastern Council (NEC) on March 3.
In the letter, a request has been made to NEC to consider sanctioning the amount of Rs. 62.20 crore for the first phase of the road project at the earliest.
During a hearing of the matter in the Meghalaya High Court today, the division bench of the court comprising of Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice Hamarsan S. Thangkhiew directed the lawyer representing NEC to apprise the court on the next date of hearing as to what steps it has taken regarding the letter sent by the Meghalaya government.
Further, during the hearing, the lawyer for the State government could not provide a ready response to the query sought by the court in its April 6 order.
In its order on April 6, the High Court had directed the State government to inform as to how to restore the Borkhat-Sonapur Road, which is in a pitiable condition, at the earliest, without waiting for arrival of funds from the DONER Ministry.
“We, therefore, direct the learned advocate for the State to obtain necessary instructions on the concerned authority of the State government in this regard and apprise this court accordingly on the next date. List this matter a fortnight hence, for further consideration,” the court said in its order today.
