CM moved for bridge for largest Barak village

From our Special Correspondent

Silchar, July 29: Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi has been moved by Silchar-Madhuraghat Barak Bridge Demand Committee (SMBGDC) for a double lane concrete bridge with footpaths on both sides over river Barak at Madhuraghat on the northern fringe of this town. In a memorandum addressed to him and submitted through the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar today, it has been pointed out that for the last 15 years, the people of greater Dudhpatil and Malugram area have been agitating for the bridge, but with no positive result.

The Demand Committee has stressed that the largest village with historical importance was pioneer in tea plantation in 1855 and from here the plantation of green bushes spread to the entire valley. It is also interesting to know that the mager of Dudhpatil tea estate was the first to have a car. The green leafs contributed towards the economic growth of the area. It was also the seat of British administration from 1832 which was later on shifted to this town.

Quite paradoxically, Dudhpatil that came out of the economic backwardness again was pushed into the area of darkness due to poor connectivity and fragile infrastructure. It was the lack of connectivity between the village and this town that the British shifted their administration. Considered against this backdrop, construction of a bridge over river Barak to connect it with Silchar has become of prime importance. This will change the face and profile of the area and give a fillip to its economy.

 Moreover, the bridge will be of benefit to the three legislative constituencies of Borkhola, Silchar and Udharbond covering a population of around 1 lakh. And 7 GPs concentrated mostly with scheduled caste and other backward communities will also get the benefit. Besides, Malugram area, a segment of Silchar constituency comprising 4 wards as well as around half lakh population, will also be benefited economically. The people of Dudhpatil have to visit Silchar daily on various purposes and they have no altertive than to cross the river by launches or mechanical boats. During monsoon when the river is in a spate, the ride particularly for students and children along with their mothers become risky. Those who ride two wheelers find it difficult to board the boats or ferries with their vehicles. The bridge will remove these hardships and shorten the distance between the village and town by 10 km and even save time.

 It has further been argued the ever growing population of Silchar with scarce land available can be accommodated in the Dudhpatil areas with abundant lands. The state and the private builders can plan for housing estates which will ease population thrust and traffic bottleneck. Along with that, agriculture and farming in the rural village will be boosted up and a cluster of small scale and employment oriented industries will also come up. Avenues will also grow for removing bottleneck in education by opening schools and colleges in the area.

 Malugram police station and Silchar fire service which has to cover the cluster of villages of Dudhpatil and the latter the entire town will become more active and public friendly once the bridge comes up. The Demand Committee reminds that a project report was submitted by the executive engineer PWD (R) in 1999-2000. The photo copy of which has also been sent to the Chief Minister for his consideration. The memorandum was signed by Kishore Kumar Bhattacharjee, president, Basudev Sharma, working president, and Tanmoy Purkayastha, general secretary of the Committee.