The Meghalaya High Court has asked the State government to liaise with National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) to indicate timelines for construction of the four-lane road from Umshyrpi to Dawki including the construction of the first package, which includes the flyover, and the final stretch into Dawki.
“The State should extend all cooperation to NHIDCL as, at the end of the day, the benefit goes to the State and primarily the people living here,” the division bench of the High Court said during the hearing of a PIL on the matter today.
The High Court also said that the State government and the NHIDCL can sit across the table to chalk out a plan so that the disruption of traffic is as little as possible during the construction of the flyover from Umshyrpi point to Jhalupara and other stretches of the Shillong-Dawki road.
The court also said that nobody should hold the project to ransom and it is the State government’s duty to ensure that the larger public interest is subserved by its intervention so that the entire stretch of the road can be constructed without any further impediment.
The High Court also directed both the State government and the NHIDCL to file status reports on the progress made regarding the project. The next hearing on the matter will be held on May 10.