Williamnagar, 20th September: The popular metal band AC/DC sang their way into history on the “Highway to Hell”. While the number may not have been due to the bad roads prevalent there, however, one guarantee is that if they had viewed NH44 in its current, the reference to the road could not have been starker. Welcome to NH 44, the “Highway to Hell” on earth.
While one may think the reference is an exaggeration, yet to travel the road from Rongjeng to Nongstion and Shillong will bring one back to reality. “Yes, we are living in the 21st century and in the era of globalization, but patches like these still remain which will bring back people to somewhere in the 19th century”. To say there is a road there would be to kill the senses. Craters the size of a small pond, slush that is knee deep and uneven roads are a nightmare for people who travel the road every day. In fact a trip from Rongjeng to Nongchram – about seven kilimetres away – will take nothing less than 45 minutes if you are a skilled driver.
The highway has been mired in controversy over land acquisition. However, whatever stretch of road remains is hardly ever cared for by the NH team. Proposed to the lifeline for the people within the state, which would if completed reduce travel time to Shillong from Tura by about 3-4 hours at least, the thought of making the journey on the road as it is now, is right out of a horror movie.
Senseng Marak, the President of the FKJGP, Eastern Circle, said, “We have to travel the road frequently as we get complaints regarding development from places that lie there. However, our team generally thinks fifty times before making the journey. Overloaded coal trucks keeping coming from Challang and travel to Assam through this route. If we are stuck behind one, we keep our prayers in hand as there is no guarantee that the truck will not topple. PWD has not worked on this road for a long time that one can hardly remember when they last saw them there”
It is hardly a strange sight to see trucks toppled over the side of the road. It would be strange if it was not. What is also strange is that despite the constraints, the NHAI has been trying to state that they would complete the road soon, sometime towards the end of 2014. The road has been envisaged to bring connectivity to the two regions of the state – Garo and Khasi Hills and ensure Assam was not the only route that worked. (SP News)
