Shillong, July 17: Tura MP, Conrad K. Sangma on Monday submitted a letter to Union Minister for Road and Surface Transport, Nitin Gadkari, requesting the Central government to take up a road currently under NEC connecting Agia in Assam with Garobada via Tikrikilla, Phulbari, Singmari, Rajabala in Garo Hills under National Highway.

In a letter to Gadkari, the Tura MP said that the proposed road is a major lifeline for the people living in that region where a population of over 2 lakh gets affected especially during rainy season. “The population suffered badly as they completely got cut off from the rest of the country due to flood,” he said, while reminding Gadkari about a letter he had sent regarding the same road on July 21, 2016.

“The people who are living in and around these areas connected by these roads are facing immense and untold hardships as the roads are completely neglected by the Central as well as the State government for many years,” Conrad said.

He also said that as the road condition has worsened, people are now forced to take alternate route which is lengthier in distance as they have to take NH 52 by crossing two districts, making it much more expensive to travel and much precious time wasted.

“I would like to inform that the mentioned road falls under my constituency and my people have raised the issue time and again to help them improve their lives with better road connectivity. I have inspected the two roads personally last year, and found their concern to be a genuine case. Since it has been almost a year now after I raised the issue to your kind self, the roads have now become bad to worse as no action has been taken,” Conrad said in the letter.

He said that since construction of a mega bridge connecting Phulbari-Dubri is in pipeline/underway, it would be very critical to upgrade this road to National Highway for multipurpose use and for economic growth of the region.