Barak youth on a mission to spread awareness on road mishap

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, Feb 14: The young man Saurabh Koiri who since the day he lost his father and brother along with their driver in a road mishap involving their vehicle on NH 6, earlier 44, at the highly landslide prone zone of Tongseng-Sopur, 110 km from here, in Meghalaya, has been raising not only his voice but of the people of the entire Barak Valley for adopting safety measures at the accident identified area. Besides, moving the then Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and the Chief Ministers of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura as well as Governors of the states, he virtually carried out a campaign on the issue by floating a website: www. wethepeople-barakvalley.com.

 Along with that, Saurabh Koiri has also taken up the vital issues of the completion of tiol projects on road, air and water for improving the connectivity of this landlocked region. Recently, he also made an appeal to Prab Mukherjee, President of India, to persolly intervene for the development of this valley. He in particular mentioned the early completion of East-West Corridor which has been stuck up on the stretch between Balacherra and Harangajao due to non-clearance by the Ministry of Forest, Government of Assam, on the ground that a wildlife sanctuary in the Borail hills has been proposed.

 Saurabh’s particular stress among all other things has been on the road safety particularly in the landslide prone active zone on tiol Highway 6 which has seen frequent slip of passenger buses, claiming lives of many while several have lost their limbs and paralyzed forever. He has also been campaigning for setting up of small, medium and large industries in view of the untapped tural resources in abundance in the area. His concern on behalf of the people is for more air connectivity and subsidized fare for passengers boarding from Kumbhirgram Airport for different destitions.

 Saurabh claims his website has evoked response from more than 16,000 people of this valley. He has pointed out that the objective of the campaign is to involve mass appeal and impress upon the President of India how even after 68 years of Independence, people continue to suffer in the absence of better and sustaible connectivity. He has also said that through the social networks and approach to people in general, he has been able to garner response which is ever rising.

 Saurabh is confident of building up a stronger campaign and also mass backup for the demands taken up. Even before he took up the online appeal, concerned at the frequent bus accidents, both day and night supers, Pratibha Devsingh Patil, former President of India, and other authorities concerned took serious cognizance of the public cause and accordingly Rs.24.36 crore was sanctioned in 2012 for identifying the basic need of safety measures on NH 6. Saurabh Koiri regrets that till date no adequate measures have been taken on road safety parameters on the said stretch of the landslide active zone.

 The online campaign and the appeal written by Saurabh to the President of India Prab Mukherjee are, in fact, the voice of the people of Barak Valley and he expects immediate intervention on the matters pinpointed in the larger interest of the region. It has been hammered that due to continuous neglect and deprivation as well as discrimition by Dispur towards this valley, there has been no development worth the me. Saurabh Koiri is the general secretary of ‘We the People of Barak Valley’, the website, which has been gaining public support day by day.

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