The Motphran overbridge. File picture

Shillong, Sept. 19: The overbridge at Motphran, which became a famous landmark and an abode for second-hand foreign garments, will soon vanish into the confines of history.

From tomorrow evening, labourers will start dismantling the overbridge, which connects Motphran point to Iewduh, after it was recently declared unsafe and a possible cause of disaster.

The construction of the overbridge started in 1976 while it was declared completed in June-July 1977. The state public works department initiated the project, and the then government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 5,08,000 for the project.

According to records, the landmark is a steel girder pedestrian overbridge with RCC slabs and RCC foundation.

Two contractors — M/S Martin Burn Ltd, Calcutta, and Phringsterwell Marbaniang of Shillong — constructed the bridge.

In June 1977, the then government had stated in the state Assembly that the overbridge would “minimise traffic congestion at the busy road junction as well as provide safety to the pedestrians”.

Former Union minister Patty Ripple Kyndiah was the Meghalaya public works department minister when the construction of the overbridge commenced.

Now, shortly after it attained 37 years, the overbridge, which meant different things to different people, will have to be dismantled. It will also be the first major landmark of the city that will come under the sledgehammer.

According to an inspection report submitted by the state PWD on the recommendation of a technical expert from IIT Guwahati, the overbridge should be dismantled at the earliest to prevent any untoward incident.

“The overbridge became an eyesore for the public while it came as a blessing in disguise for those selling and buying foreign second-hand readymade clothes — cheap but of high quality and so affordable for one and all to own and wear clothes of good material. Now that era is about to go,” church leader and social activist Rev. P.B.M. Basaiawmoit pointed out.

For years, people would flock to the overbridge to purchase readymade garments. Sunday mornings were usually busy hours for both buyers and sellers as finer second-hand garments would be put up for sale.

Those vendors have now been shifted to a spot within a parking lot near Motphran, although they had initially opposed.

Basaiawmoit also recollected how one politician from a rural constituency had made the Motphran overbridge his electoral weapon to take on the then government with “building a bridge where there was no river”.

“In one of his election campaigns, Bah Nit Shabong, in his usual rhetoric, sparing no one, friend or foe, castigated the then government for its foolish policies and actions, which compelled him to come forward as a candidate. His example was the construction of the Motphran overbridge — building bridges where there are no rivers while where there are rivers, the government does not build bridges,” the church leader and social activist recalled.

The completion of the overbridge came just a year before the 1978 Assembly elections where Shabong had contested from Sohiong constituency. Both Kyndiah and Shabong have now retired from active politics.

And as labourers toil to bring down the overbridge, Shillong bids adieu to one of its famous landmarks fondly known as the Jingkieng Motphran.