The Meghalaya High Court has directed the amicus curiae to inspect the 5 km damaged portion of the National Highway 6 and file a report.
During today’s hearing of a PIL, a division bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Biswadeep Bhattacharjee said the NHAI had submitted before the Court that emergency repair work has been carried out in the 5 km stretch.
S Sengupta, the lawyer appearing for NHAI, told the High Court that the remaining portion of the repair works would be completed by March, 2025.
On November 6, the High Court had ordered the NHAI to start repair of the badly damaged portions of NH 6 in East Jaintia Hills within two months and emergency measures to be undertaken so that the badly damaged portions of the highway are reasonably pliable by vehicles.
The damaged portion as pointed out by Suraj Panthi, who is the amicus curiae, is about 45 km out of 102.255 km. The very badly damaged portion covers about 5 km.
The court also said that the State government should render all assistance to the authority to ensure smooth movement of traffic during the repair works.
The amicus curiae has been asked to submit the report before the bench in its next hearing on February 5, 2025.
It may be mentioned that the subject-matter of this PIL is a stretch of 102.255 km of National Highway-6 between Jowai and Ratacherra. This highway is a lifeline for Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
