Conrad Sangma takes NH-217 repairs to Road Transport Ministry

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has raised the poor state of National Highway 217 with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), meeting the ministry's secretary on Saturday, October 31, to discuss repair works on the road.

Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, who holds the Public Works Department, was with him at the meeting. In a post on X, Sangma said the discussion was about repairs to NH-217 and thanked the ministry for supporting infrastructure development in Meghalaya, Hub News and The Shillong Times reported.

What has not been announced

The chief minister did not say which stretches of the highway would be taken up, how much money the Centre might provide, or when work would start. NEInsider will update this story if the state government or MoRTH releases those details.

Why NH-217 matters

NH-217 links parts of South Garo Hills and West Garo Hills with Assam and is a key route for people, goods and essential supplies in the Garo Hills region. It also carries traffic towards Dalu on the India-Bangladesh border, which gives it importance for trade and border connectivity.

Commuters and transporters have complained for months about the condition of several stretches, which gets worse in the monsoon. Bad roads affect daily travel, access to hospitals and the movement of farm produce to markets.

Pressure from local groups

The highway's condition has become a political issue in the Garo Hills. In October, the Garo Students' Union (GSU) wrote to the three MLAs from South Garo Hills, asking them to jointly seek the chief minister's intervention over the Baghmara-Karongre stretch, which it said had become very difficult for commuters.

In August, a local leader, Rakkam Sangma, had also sought the chief minister's intervention over delays in the NH-217 project, according to an earlier Hub News report.

The scale of any repair, whether resurfacing of the worst patches or a larger rebuilding of the road, will depend on what MoRTH finally sanctions.