A correspondent
Silchar: Frustrated and irritated with the miserable conditions of the main roads of Silchar town, hundreds of citizens on Wednesday morning came out in the street and blocked the busy Capital Point junction for five hours. The road blockade, initially convened by Youth Against Social Evils (YASE), a pressure group, got unexpected support from various groups as well as individuals who thronged to the area and raised slogans against the ruling party representatives and the concerned departments. Two lady magistrates were deputed as emissaries by the district administration to pacify the crowd, but they were seen as helpless as the demonstrators clearly declared that they would not leave the place till the repair works got started. Finally, at around 2 p.m., the NHIDCL and PWD officials arrived at the spot with construction materials. Before wrapping up today's demonstration, the crowd made it clear that they would keep close vigil on the progress of the work.
For the last few months, the main roads of Silchar town were riddled with pond-like potholes. On April 21, when the senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took out a massive road just prior to the election on April 26. Surprisingly, the dilapidated roads got a quick facelift. The election is over, and it was followed by regular torrential rain, making the main roads of the town a horrible experience for the people.
Interestingly, courtesy of the delimitation, the entire area covering the three main bridges over the Barak river and the busiest Capital Point junction fall in Udharbond constituency. It was a common allegation among the residents that these areas had become 'no man's land' as neither the MLA of Silchar Dipayan Chakrabarty nor his Udharbond counterpart Mihir Kanti Shome wished to take the responsibility.
Demonstrators were heard shouting that the ruling party had been making the residents fools with no one taking care of the road. "The Chief Minister makes tall promises that Silchar will be a smart city, but it is a pity that even the road leading to the Medical College is in miserable condition, but the state government has done nothing," a resident who joined today's road blockade voluntarily cried out.
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