Huge boulder in front of Sonapur tunnel; vehicles stranded for long hours

way2barak, Sept.6: Landslide occurred at Sonapur Tunnel on Tuesday morning thereby causing disruption of Shillong Guwahati vehicular movement at NH-06. Towards afternoon, DC East Jaintia Hills District informed that one lane has been cleared and so one way traffic was opened. However, later on, it was learnt that a huge boulder fell down from the adjoining mountain which resulted in blocking the entrance to the Sonapur tunnel.

At 8 PM on 6 September, East Jaintia Hills Police informed that “The work to clear the debris from Sonapur Tunnel is going on in earnest . We will update on the progress being made from time to time. Commuters are requested to kindly be patient.”

However, at 10.45 PM, one of the passengers from Rangirkhari, Silchar called way2barak and said, “I got struck there for more than 12 hours. Efforts are on to clear the blockade, but till now nothing much could be achieved. A huge boulder has blocked the way to the Sonapur tunnel. At one point of time, on Tuesday night, those involved in clearing of the debris informed us that they will use dynamite to blast the huge boulder. At the same time, they also informed us as that as a result of the blast, particles of stone might damage the vehicles struck there. As such, we urged them not to use dynamite. A little ago, they informed us that some more excavators will be called in to remove the boulder.”

The passenger further added that they were in scarcity of food and drinking water.