Dear friends, our cover story this month i.e. the highway to death is indeed a very sad story reflecting the gross criminal negligence on the part of administrators for not taking care of Sonapur (Sonapyrdi) Meghalaya - Assam National Highway 40. The road starting from Durga temple near Sonapyrdi towards upto Meghalaya border is in absolutely pathetic condition since decades. The incident that took place on June 14 at 10 pm where a bus rolled down about 300 feet deep into the gorge below. It is true that the fitness condition of the bus has been questioned. The real issue is that death at this particular belt is a continuous process particularly during the rainy season. It is not understood that inspite of the fact that this belt has been handed over to border road organisation, yet things has not improved. It leads to a question mark.
The national highway is the life and blood of the people of this region as this road connects Guwahati with Tripura and Mizoram. Just on another day, the rail connectivity, between Silchar and Agartala was established which is also at an experimental state as time and again when it rains the services are discontinued. Hence, there is a need to take care of this vital link road by the people who matters.
Road accidents in India is indeed a matter of serious concern as every minute we have an accident and every 3.7 minute somebody is dying due to road accidents. If we take the statistics for the reasons of road accidents precisely there are two – the fault of the driver constitutes to almost over 77% of the accidents in the country whereas weather conditions constitutes to only 1% of the accidents. But in this specific case it is the weather conditions as well as defect in the road condition and fault of the driver which all contributed to this bus accident.
The good news is that the newly elected Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal has directed its officials to ensure the up-gradation of the roads within three months.
Even the Frontier Chamber of Commerce submitted a memorandum to the Honourable Prime Minister requesting him to look into this particular issue of road improvement much before the road accident took place. Our Editor in Chief Dr. K. K. Jhunjhunwala had the privilege to present this memorandum on behalf of the Chamber to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s Office sharply reacted and informed that the government is going to improve Jowai-Ratacherra road from 69.200 km to 173.000 km into two laned by NHAI into two ways all weather road.
We only hope the wisdom prevails and ‘the highway of death’ is converted into the highway ofhope