Digboi residents warn of impending tragedy over highway expansion puts schools at risk

OUR CORRESPONDENT

DIGBOI: Serious safety concerns have surfaced along the National Highway stretch between Digboi Club and the Golai-based IOCL Terminal as widening work continues at high speed. Although the project was meant to strengthen long-term connectivity, residents say that it has instead created daily risks and severe inconvenience.

Local citizens allege that the NHIDCL-implemented highway project has turned into a source of suffering rather than improvement. They argue that the agency, as the implementing authority, has failed to adopt even the minimum safety measures expected in such a sensitive, school-dominated belt.

Six educational institutions — Play High School, Bengali Primary School, 1 No. Golai Primary School, 1 No. Golai Hindi Primary School, Nehru Children School and 2 No. Golai Primary School — once stood a safe distance from the road. Following the highway expansion, however, these schools now sit directly on the road’s edge. Despite this, no mandatory safety installations such as ‘School Ahead’ boards, speed-limit indicators, pedestrian warnings or safety barricades have been put in place.

Public frustration over the issue has been growing on social media. Nasir Ahmed, a retired and experienced AOD Power Department employee, voiced grave concern over the presence of naked high-voltage power lines running alarmingly close to several schools. He says there are neither security personnel nor danger signboards to caution students and passersby, particularly in the Golai area under Digboi police station. According to Ahmed, this negligence has put hundreds of schoolchildren at daily risk.

Residents also point out that vehicles, especially two-wheelers, frequently speed through the stretch, unchecked by any speed-control mechanisms or construction-zone warnings. Parents say that the road has become so unpredictable that they send their children to school with fear and anxiety.

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