Landslide sps NH 40

Blocked stretch unlikely to be cleared untill Monday evening

Our Bureau

JORABAT/ Shillong , September 6: A massive landslide that occurred today evening on NH 40 at Umling brought traffic between Guwahati and Shillong to a standstill, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides for several kilometres.

The landslide occurred this afternoon at around 2pm.

Superintendent of Police of Meghalaya's Ri Bhoi district GD Kharwanlang said the administration is taking measures to allow small vehicles to move. However, the road will be completely cleared only by tomorrow evening.

Some vehicles are being diverted via Umling-20th Mile road.

The Guwahati-Shillong road has witnessed several landslides over the last few weeks, most of which have been blamed on the earth-cutting work undertaken to widen the origil highway into a four-lane road. Locals have blamed contractors for the repeated landslides, alleging that the work was not done scientifically.

The NH 40 connects the four states of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Barak Valley with the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam.

Ri Bhoi Deputy Commissioner Pooja Pandey she said that the administration, police and NHAI officials are working round-the-clock to clear the debris. Six excavators, two earth mover machines, and 10-15 dumper vehicles have been deployed to clear the road. A highway stretch of around 300 metres has been buried under the debris.