OUR CORRESPONDENT
TINSUKIA: The vital 5-km stretch from Tinsukia to Bahadur Chariali on the Tinsukia-Duliajan connecting road is in a state of severe disrepair, raising urgent concerns over commuter safety and daily hardship for students, residents, office-goers, and pilgrims. Communities dependent on the road for emergency and essential services continue to demand long-term restoration before a major accident occurs.
The stretch from Na-pukhuri, a historical water heritage site, to the Bahadur Chariali railway crossing is riddled with potholes and large craters. Temporary filling with loose dirt and pebbles offers little relief. Rains quickly wash away the material, while heavy traffic on dry days kicks up thick dust, causing respiratory discomfort.
With no alternative route, the road serves as the main thoroughfare for Oil India Limited employees travelling between Tinsukia and Duliajan headquarters, as well as for devotees heading to the revered Tilinga Mandir in Bordubi.
Local youths, public transport associations, and members of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) had recently staged a road blockade demanding immediate repairs. They reportedly had threatened to restrict the movement of heavy vehicles carrying equipment and machinery and had earlier submitted memoranda to the district administration regarding repair and maintenance of the road.
Apoorva Saikia (name changed), a student of BB Memorial Public School located beside the road, described daily ordeals with dust and heat forcing her to cover her face on humid summer afternoons, while rainy days turn the approach into mud and slush.
Nearby, construction of a massive 125 TPD Compressed Bio Gas plant under the Union Government's GOBARDHAN scheme proceeds amid poor access conditions. Similar hazards persist near the CRPF 68 Battalion camp after the Tingrai river bridge, at Bahadur Chariali and Bordubi railway crossings, where large pits on access roads turn into mini-ponds after rain and near the Tinsukia Municipal Board's Hugrijan dumping site, where the surface lacks bitumen and features carelessly laid bricks with jagged edges.
Apart from being accident-prone, global studies say driving on damaged roads leads to an increase in fuel consumption by 10-30 per cent.
Clearly, road design standards are solid on paper, but are poorly enforced on the ground. This is a crisis rooted not just in infrastructure, but in human behaviour, enforcement gaps, and systemic neglect. One of the key issues is that non-compliance with safety standards attracts minimal penalties. When the government is making all efforts to reduce fuel imports by mandating higher ethanol blends, proactive restoration of deteriorating road conditions will not only check future spending on fossil fuels and ease the burden on the exchequer but will also avert accidents which unfortunately claim innocent lives.
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