Partisan politics over Dhakuakha road

Bharat rah-ba Kumar Doley tussle giving nightmares to locals

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Aug 30: This road is under the State PWD and has not been taken over by the tiol Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL). But the condition of the 38-km Gogamukh-Dhakuakha road is worse than that of the tiol highways for which the Tarun Gogoi government is castigating the Central government nowadays.

The hazardous condition of the road – filled with huge potholes – is forcing motorists to drive with extreme caution or avoid the road altogether, if possible. The road, which is the only link for the people of Dhakuakha subdivision to the rest of the State, has now become a veritable death trap. A portion of the road also falls under Dhemaji assembly constituency held by minister Sumitra Patir.

The hapless locals have found themselves at the receiving end of a power struggle between the former and incumbent legislators of Dhakuakha. Former MLA Bharat rah of the Congress is allegedly stalling the re-construction work to show incumbent MLA ba Kumar Doley of the AGP in poor light and to make it an issue in the upcoming assembly elections.

Re-construction work had commenced at the initiative of Doley. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year, the Chief Minister had laid the foundation for the Rs 123 crore re-construction work in presence of the then MP Rani rah and PWD minister Ajanta Neog. With the Congress losing the Lakhimpur parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha elections last year, nothing much moved thereafter.

The 22-km stretch between Gogamukh and Ghilamara was awarded to a firm called Shivam Bharti, while the remaining 16-km from Ghilamara to Dhakuakha was awarded to JC Constructions.

Government engineers ascribe the delay to forest clearances and land acquisition bottlenecks. However, locals claim all the prelimiry works have been completed.

Construction had started in a small portion of the road, but that stretch has only deteriorated over the months.

“The government wants to harass the people. The area is already backward. People are now avoiding the road. You can often see shortage of essential commodities as truckers refuse to ply to Dhakuakha due to the road condition,” rued NCD College principal Dr Surajit Doley.

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