On April 20, a rockslide on Package 2 of NHIDCL's Rs 2,171-crore Shillong-Pynursla-Dawki road project killed two people in Mawlieh. Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong's response was to commit to finishing it by 2027 and to politely request that the public avoid using the road during monsoon. Two days later, the High Court of Meghalaya took suo motu cognisance of the deaths, impleaded the state PWD, MoRTH and NHIDCL, and on April 28 began asking why hill-cutting blasting on a national highway corridor came with no rock-stabilisation plan.
The 71-kilometre Shillong-Pynursla-Dawki corridor is the kind of road that will, in 2027, finally connect Meghalaya's capital to the Bangladesh border. Right now, four of its five packages have been sanctioned since 2020, Package 1 is at 90 per cent, and Package 2 has just produced a 'rockslip' near Lyngkyrdem that killed two people sitting in a Bolero on April 20. Deputy CM Prestone Tynsong, who is also the PWD minister, told the press the state was 'committed to completing' the project by 2027 and urged the public to avoid that stretch during monsoon. The High Court of Meghalaya, less impressed with the don't-use-it-until-it's-done strategy, took suo motu cognisance of a Shillong Times report on April 22, impleaded the state, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and NHIDCL, and at the April 28 hearing began asking how a national highway widening project ended up with 'inadequate safety measures, including failure to ensure proper stabilisation, storage or disposal of loose rocks' after blasting. The promise of 'round-the-clock monitoring' arrived only after the deaths. Until 2027 — and possibly some time after that — the safest way to travel the Shillong-Dawki road appears to be not to.