Shillong bans dumping along key national highway stretch after road agency raises alarm

The District Magistrate of East Khasi Hills has issued a strict prohibition order banning the disposal of waste, debris, and construction material along a 16-kilometre stretch of the Old National Highway 40 — the arterial road connecting Shillong to the rest of the country.

The order, signed by RM Kurbah, came after the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) flagged the problem in a formal complaint earlier this month. The agency said unknown persons had been routinely dumping debris, soil, and household waste along the road shoulder between Barapani (Km 61.800) and the KHADC Junction (Km 77.800), a stretch that falls squarely within the two-lane section of NH-40 still under state maintenance.

The NHIDCL, which operates through its Project Management Unit at Mylliem, warned that the dumping was not merely an eyesore — it was actively disrupting repair and maintenance works and creating genuine hazards for motorists. The stretch in question begins precisely where the four-lane Jorabat-Barapani section ends, making it a critical transition point for traffic heading into Shillong.

Exercising powers under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 — a law that empowers magistrates to act swiftly in situations posing immediate danger — the District Magistrate has prohibited three categories of activity with immediate effect: dumping of debris, soil, or construction waste along the road shoulders; unauthorised disposal of domestic or commercial waste in the area; and any activity that obstructs maintenance work or interferes with the flow of traffic.

Anyone found violating the order faces prosecution under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The order has no fixed end date and will remain in force until explicitly withdrawn.

The move is the second such crackdown by the East Khasi Hills administration in as many weeks. Earlier in March, the same district magistrate had banned unauthorised excavation and indiscriminate dumping across the district more broadly, after complaints that loose soil and debris were washing into rivers and contaminating drinking water sources during the rains.

The Umiam Lake area, which sits just north of Shillong along this very corridor, has long faced pressure from pollution and siltation, making the enforcement of waste disposal rules along roads feeding into that catchment particularly consequential.