Meghalaya: High Court Orders NHAI to Repair Damaged Stretch of NH-6 in Two Months

SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya, in a major decision, ordered the NHAI to repair a ravaged 5km stretch of NH-6 in two months. It had issued this order in the wake of a PIL over the poor state of this vital highway linking important regions of Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

PIL was filed by late Kynjaimon Amse, which brought to the surface the worst state of NH-6 between Jowai and Ratacherra, forming a crucial stretch of 102.255 km. The highway is a lifeline to the northeastern states. Grossly in disrepair, parts of the highway have deteriorated so much that they have become impassable to vehicles. To this extent, the court agreed, referring to photographs submitted along with the PIL showing portions of the highway in that worst state.

This the court communicated to be very urgent and, thus ordered NHAI to take necessary steps within the next two weeks to make the 5-kilometer stretch "reasonably pliable by vehicles" in the interim until full repair work could be done. This will bring relief to the commuters and will also prevent the disruption of the highway for essential travel again.

While the NHAI assured the court that they intended to do the repair work, the court was worried about the slow pace of the work. It stated that the speed at which repairs were going on was too slow and in need of greater urgency.

The court also directed an agenda for immediate repairs for a 5-kilometre stretch. In addition, the court ordered that the entire repair work in respect of the remaining 45 kilometers of the damaged highway would be over before the advent of the next monsoon season to be faced by the country within the next five months. This timeline has been designed to avoid further destruction of the highway as the rainy season is already expected to make the road worse.

The NHAI assures that once the various locations of damage are identified by the Amicus Curiae, court-appointed to assist the court for this purpose by monitoring the progress of repairs, and for this purpose, their counsel S Sengupta assured the court.

To make it easy for the court, it also asked the state government to pay a remuneration of Rs 30,000 to Amicus Curiae by December 10, 2024, towards compensation for services rendered. The PIL will be taken up again for hearing on December 11, 2024, when the court will peruse the repairing works in progress.

Ruling the High Court of Meghalaya underlines that maintaining national highways, in which NH-6 is one such example, these highways are lifelines for such remote and under-served regions. Orders issued by the High Court emphasize the immediate requirement of repair work along the damaged stretches of NH-6 to sustain the functionality of NH and the safety of roads, among the locals of Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram who reckon this as one of the important highways with regular use for daily transportation.

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