GUWAHATI: The residents along the Old AT Road connecting Dharapur with Uparhali via Palasbari have to hit bumps in the road every now and then for no fault of theirs. The blame goes to thousands of dumpers that carry white sand collected from the bed of the Brahmaputra at three different locations – Silputa Xatra, Pub Majirgaon, and Kendukuchi.
A stretch of the road from Garal to Pub Majirgaon is beyond use for pedestrians and other commuters. The stretch has cracks all throughout, making a journey on it a pathetic experience. But this stretch of the road was renovated in 2016-17 costing over Rs 27.99 lakh. In a normal situation, the condition this stretch of the road should have been much better. The present plight of the road is because of thousands of dumpers, often overloaded, carrying sand collected from the riverbed throughout the night. Some of the dumpers without any number of plates attached to them are also seen to carry sand through the road. The capacity of the road to take the load of such overloaded heavy vehicles is under question. The pathetic condition of the road within two years of its renovation is naturally attributed to the plying of such heavy vehicles, that too, throughout the night at very high speed. The road has sands in this stretch. During the dry season, the residents have to suffer from dust storms every now and then.
The residents along the road have to suffer for no fault of theirs. Some moot points that make the residents raise their eyebrows are – load limit of the dumpers vis-à-vis the capacity of the road, a few of the dumpers plying on the road without number plates attached to them, the frequency of dumpers plying on the road etc. Even as the residents are in dark about all such moot points, the residents doubt that some sort of illegality is at work.
AT Road is an important road connecting Dharapur and Uparhali. This road is a vital link when there is traffic congestion on NH-37 to and from the airport. This apart, there are a number of thickly inhabited hamlets on either side of this road. For them, it is their highway.
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