Pynursla is among the two stretches where land has not been handed over to the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) for construction of the Shillong-Dawki highway.
During hearing of a PIL filed by senior lawyer Kaustav Paul in the Meghalaya High Court today, Deputy Solicitor General Dr. Nitesh Mozika appearing on behalf of the NHIDCL told court that some encumbrances still remain with regard to the handing over of land in two stretches, Pynursla being one.
In view of the matter, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Hamarsan Singh Thangkhiew and Justice B Bhattacharjee asked the NHDCIL to file a fresh status report on the progress of the road project within four weeks from today.
The division bench also asked the State government to appraise the court through an affidavit on the status of the land encumbrances which has been flagged by the NHIDCL.
The status report by the NHIDCL and affidavit of the State government will be taken up at the next hearing on October 21.
The 90 km Shillong-Dawki road project has five packages. The road project which includes construction of a four-lane road from Umshyrpi to Umtyngngar has been embroiled in serious difficulties and has seen contractors pull out. Work in four packages has started as new contractors have been engaged to execute the work.
The work on the first package includes a proposed flyover from Umshyrpi to Anjalee point and Jhalupara on the Shillong-Guwahati road would commence soon.
The stretch from Umtyngngar to Dawki will be widened to two lanes. Here too, the work has been delayed by various reasons including delay to hand over land.
The Shillong-Dawki road project, funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at an estimated cost of Rs 1377.5 crore, has already missed its completion deadline of December 2022 due to issues of land acquisition, forest clearance and delay to shift power lines and water pipelines.
