Karimganj: Students of Barak Valley Engineering on Friday took to the streets and gheraoed the Karimganj District Commissioner’s office. The students’ body demanded a written assurance from the district authorities on the promises made by the BJP government to ensure 24×7 power supply in the Nirala area of Karimganj town.
The students of the Barak Valley Engineering College in Karimganj’s Nirala area have been witnessing to frequent power cuts, creating unforeseen problems in their day to day life since the establishment of the college in the year 2017.
Speaking before the media, students’ have alleged that since the past one-year constant power cuts and load shedding in the college campus area had made their living condition inside the college campus miserable.
The students’ during their protest had appealed before the District Administration to allot a new APDCL substation in the College Campus along with an introduction of clean and safe drinking water facility in the campus.
It may also be mentioned that earlier, Karimganj district Congress leaders and workers launched a protest rally against the APDCL authorities, however, they were prevented by the police on the ground that 144 CrPC was clamped in the entire district earlier in the month of August.
The Congress group led by its district president Satu Roy, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, MLA, and Swapan Ghose along with National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) leaders and followers also burnt an effigy of the power minister in front of the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB). They raised slogans in a chorus and demanded an explanation for the promises made by BJP government to ensure 24×7 power supply.
Speaking to The Sentinel, Congress Leader, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha said, “The Government had failed in maintaining these colleges established during the tenure of the Congress Government. If such a situation goes on, the boys and girls in the engineering college will be in a miserable condition. No development will take place in the region until and unless there is proper electricity supply and safe drinking water facility in the Karimganj District.”
Earlier, NSUI president Rajen Choudhury also lashed out at APDCL authorities and asked it to show mercy towards the patients, old and infirm who cannot sleep at night and even during day owing to the extreme heat. The district administration has also been put on the dock for maintaining a stoic silence. Despite the prohibitory orders, Congress and NSUI leaders and workers could manage to reach the office of the APDCL AGM Sanjib Das Gupta and kept him under siege for nearly one hour.