Silchar-Kalain Road blocked indefinitely

Special Correspondent

SILCHAR, Sept 10: Everyday in every nook and corner of Barak Valley, people are coming out and hitting the roads and highways demanding immediate repair works. The state government and NEC as well as PWD (R) not excluding NHAI and BRTF seem totally indifferent to the plight and woes of travelling public and the movement of vehicular traffic. Not even a single road or highway is worth riding. The only refrain from the government and its department is that there is no fund.

 Understandably, there might be no fund left to take up repair and improvement works. Road users and tax payers are raising the relevant question why should a road turn into a shambles to which crores of rupees have been allotted and utilized. Today the residents of Shibbari Road in total despair came out of their houses and first squatted on the road and then blocked by putting barrier. All sorts of vehicular traffic came to a halt.

 As Ashis Choudhury, coorditor of Sibbari Road Construction Demand Committee, said despite repeated representations to the Deputy Commissioner and the PWD (R) department, there has been no response. It is as if the responsibility of the people themselves to take care of the road that passes through their areas. Finding no altertive, the Demand Committee supported by Mab Kalyan Club and Shiv Mandir Magement Committee laid barrier and declared that it would continue indefinitely.

 Kalyan Chakraborty, also coorditor of the Committee, pointed out the 200 mtr stretch of the road in their area has virtually turned into a death trap. Everyday with the movement of vehicles and the impact of continuous rains, the road is turning from bad to worse. He revealed during 2013 – 14 Rs.14.53 crore was sanctioned and utilized for improvement of Silchar-Kalain Road. Within one year, how and why the road would become unworthy of use.  The residents of the area, located on the western fringe of this town, have also to bear the blow of dust and its effects on the body. All that remains of the 200 mtr stretch of the road are boulders and there is no black-toping left. There have been fatal accidents, killing 3 persons and injuring several others after their vehicles met with mishaps. Moreover, the embankment along the river Barak to protect Shibbari areas is also in doldrums and calls for immediate reinforcement. Many houses due to the sloughing river Barak have been damaged by developing cracks.

 But then, who cares? There is neither monitoring of the quality nor is there any accountability. The politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus is well known in this valley. It is so strong that the voice of those who protest for accountability is silenced. And so, the roads and highways despite utilization of huge funds after a few months begin to lose all the signs of their repair and improvement. So the tale goes on with the state government and its department coming out with the statements that there is no money left on this count in the coffers.

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