PWD yet to clear landslide on roads to Hat Mawdon, Balat

HP NEWS SERVICE
Shillong, Jul 1: The Public Works Department (PWD) is yet to clear the debris from major landslides which occurred on the Mawsynram-Hat Mawdon-Ryngku road and on the Balat road thereby resulting in major problems for the residents of these areas.
Commenting on the complexity of restoring communications after the landslide, the Executive Engineer, Mawsynram PWD Division, E Lyngdoh said that the landslide has affected about 80 meters of the road and has cut off all vehicular movement.
“We are finding it hard to restore a 30 meter section where a major landslide occurred since the soil is still very loose and wet and we cannot even use the excavator,” Lyngdoh said today.
He said it may take more than a week to restore this part of the road, that too if there is no major rainfall in that time.
“We are trying our level best to temporarily restore this road to Hat Mawdon before we will need to do a major repair and realignment of the road which will cost about Rs 40 lakh,” he said.
“We have kept barriers and urged people not to ply through this road that can be dangerous and lead to an untoward incident,” the executive engineer added.
On the landslide that occurred on June 26 along the 54 km stretch of Mawphlang-Balat Road, Lyngdoh said that temporary restoration has been done and at present only small vehicles are allowed to ply.
Meanwhile, Mawsynram MLA, Himalaya M. Shangpliang said that he has spoken to the engineers regarding the road to Hat Mawdon and he was told that temporary restoration will take about 10-14 days.
Informing that the road is a lifeline for the people in the border area of Mawsynram and that the landslide has badly affected them, Shangpliang also slammed the disaster management department while accusing it of delayed action.
“Their procedure is that an inquiry will be conducted by the BDO or an officer who will submit the report to the government which will then study this report and then approve assistance,” he said.
Shangpliang also said that by the time the people get the assistance that they need, it all becomes meaningless.
“The ready fund from the disaster management department available at the level of the DC and BDO should be provided in a day or two after damage assessment is done,” he said.