CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: Leader of the Opposition and former Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Tuesday criticised both the Assam and Meghalaya governments over persistent waterlogging along the Jorabat-Khanapara stretch, describing the situation as a serious road-safety concern and questioning the failure of authorities to address what he termed a structural problem caused by choked culverts and blocked water exits.
Dr Sangma said the stretch, which serves as a crucial entry point to Guwahati and connects Meghalaya with Guwahati and its international airport, has repeatedly turned hazardous during heavy rains, leaving commuters and emergency vehicles stranded.
The leader of the opposition said the responsibility cannot be shifted through a blame game between the two states when the affected stretch involves both Assam and Meghalaya and requires coordinated intervention by the authorities concerned.
"Unfortunately, this has been happening for the last few years, and the surprising part is that it continues, and as though it is nobody's job to rectify," Dr Sangma said, adding that he had personally travelled through the area recently and sought to understand the factors behind the severe waterlogging and the risks posed to commuters.
"And it's very dangerous from the road safety perspective. It is binding on the authorities who build a route, who maintain the road and who manage the road," he said.
Dr Sangma said road safety is subject to institutional monitoring, including oversight arising from the Supreme Court's interventions, and stressed that the authorities concerned are legally bound to comply with prescribed safety measures.
"There is complete monitoring by the Supreme Court itself," he said.
"You all are aware there is a Supreme Court committee on road safety, so different guidelines have been issued occasionally," he said, stressing that compliance was required from all authorities concerned, including the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), state public works departments and the National Highways Authority of India wherever their jurisdictions are involved.
The former CM said the consequences become particularly grave at night and during flooding, when information on the scale of disruption is not always available for public scrutiny. Recalling his recent experience on the stretch, he said he had witnessed several ambulances being caught in the congestion and waterlogging, raising concerns over the impact on patients requiring urgent medical attention.
Dr Sangma said the recurring nature of the problem points to a basic infrastructural failure rather than an isolated episode of flooding. He identified the choking of culverts and the obstruction of water outlets as the principal structural factors contributing to the waterlogging.
"So, I think having seen this for such a long time, the cost, the attributing factor is nothing but structural, so this structural problem attributing to this problem is from the choking of the culverts. Chocking of the exit of the water - you have the culverts' water coming from one end, then it has to exit through the other end, but that exit point is chocked," he said.
According to the TMC leader, once the designated drainage outlet is blocked, the highway itself effectively becomes the passage for accumulated water, creating a direct hazard for motorists and commuters.
He accused the authorities of failing to discharge their assigned responsibilities and said the issue could not be treated merely as an administrative inconvenience.
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