HC issues safety directions for smooth traffic on Shillong-Dawki highway

Shillong: The high court of Meghalaya has issued urgent safety directions to ensure smooth traffic flow on the Shillong-Dawki Highway leading to Bangladesh, calling the ongoing repair work “shabby and unscientific”.A division bench of Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice W Diengdoh, hearing a PIL filed after a massive boulder crushed a vehicle on the stretch and killed its occupants, held the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and the contractor responsible for endangering lives and escalating costs.Advocate General A Kumar and Deputy Solicitor General of India Dr N Mozika told the court that compensation of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 6 lakh, as directed in its April 29 order, had been credited to the accounts of the legal heirs of the deceased.Amicus Curiae Philemon Nongbri, who inspected the road on May 14, submitted a report with photographs describing the surface as “in a deplorable condition”. The report said the carriageway was “covered with loose mud and uncleared debris, rendering it barely motorable and extremely dangerous”, and flagged an “absolute lack of proper, sturdy barricades” between live traffic and deep drops.“The contractor has erected thin wooden sticks tied together with safety tape which offers absolutely no physical restraint or protection for vehicles,” the report said.

It also cited missing reflectors, delineators and “men at work” signs despite heavy fog and excavators operating during traffic hours, adding that the lapses violated Sections 9.4.1 and 9.4.2 of the Hill Road Manual.NHIDCL filed its own report along with a site assessment by empanelled hill road expert Ashish D Gharpure. He said “due to inadequate right-of-way provision and unattended slope stability aspect”, slope cutting works were creating “hazardous conditions either affecting the road user or the habitat/structure living/constructed on the borderline/adjacent to ROW”.Gharpure criticized a “very lame and non-engineering explanation” for steep cuts and warned that continuing “un-engineered cut” would lead “not only to catastrophic damage but also loss of human life and eventual cost of construction which is multifold to initial provision.”The court observed that it was “evident that the work is not being done as is required to be done and is being done in a shabby and unscientific manner by the contractor, thereby endangering human life and increase in the cost of construction”.

It added, “For this, prima facie, we are of the opinion that it is not only the contractor, but also the NHIDCL, who is responsible”.Dr Mozika submitted that “it appears that the DPR itself was defective,” and the NHIDCL report admitted the contractor was chosen on financial capability, “and not whether he was an expert in constructing roads in the hills.”The bench directed authorities to immediately replace makeshift flex banners with standardized retro-reflecting signs as per IRC guidelines, install strong physical barricades with reflectors in poor-visibility zones, clear loose mud to restore the carriageway, and deploy trained flagmen with communication devices and high-visibility gear near heavy machinery.The court also directed the state and NHIDCL’s top officers to meet and ensure the work is completed “at the earliest, without compromising on the safety of people and quality of work”.Advocate General Kumar was directed to ensure police deployment for smooth traffic, and the Court sought instructions on stationing ambulances at strategic locations for “immediate medical help… in the event there is an untoward incident."The matter is listed next on June 3, 2026.