Cachar road work going on for 4 years; little hope to lost erosion

Silchar: Residents of Rajatilla in Cachar district of Assam were allegedly killed for raising their voices against irregularities in the reconstruction work of the Katigorah-Harinagar Road-Kum-Bande project (under Katigorah assembly constituency). There are threats including threats. In a dilapidated condition for the last five years.
Locals of Rajatilla, including Ranjit Das, Nikhilesh Das, Ruhul Amin and Nasim Uddin, told to Media on Thursday that the government has spent approx. 2.81 crores have been allocated. Road-cum-Dike at Rajatilla in FY 2019-20.
While  Cachar road renovation work began in 2019 in the area, about 44 km from Silchar city, the project has not been completed till date, with residents alleging that it is being carried out without following government guidelines from the start.
The Katigorah-Harinagar road, which straddles the Bangladesh border and runs along the Barak River, has experienced extensive soil erosion over the years. In 2018, a portion of the road sank due to erosion in Haritikar village, resulting in damage to shops and houses and disconnection of the surface.

The then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal directed the district administration to take necessary steps and make the road functional as soon as possible. An alternative route was then constructed. The road, which has been in a deplorable condition for years, connects several villages, including Rajatilla, Borbond, Kinnarkhal and Harinagar. All these villages have a population of around 30,000 to 40,000.
Now, local residents are alleging that the reconstruction of the dyke along the road is being carried out at a slow pace, without following guidelines and using poor quality materials such as piling and drain construction. Done properly. They also alleged that the work is being done with sand collected from the hilly areas whereas as per government guidelines only sand of a certain quality can be used for the work. They fear that with the next monsoon, it will again encroach on the road.
But what’s worse for the residents is that they are now being threatened for voicing their concerns, allegedly by the ‘goons’ of the contractor involved in the project. Local businessman Abdul Hashim alleged that he was receiving death threats from the ‘contractor’s people’ for raising his voice on the issue.
Contractor AK Paul was not available for comment.

However, the locals are demanding a magisterial probe and strict action against all those found involved in corruption.

According to K.B. Nath, Executive Engineer, PWD, Borkhola and Katigorah Regional Road Division, the reconstruction work is taking a long time “due to technical hurdles”.
“We get only two to three months to work. When the water level of the river (Barak) remains high, it is not possible to do any work. The project is nearing completion and hopefully the work will be completed very soon,” Nath told to Media on Thursday.
He added that the delay was also due to funding related issues.
Katigorah Congress MLA Khalil Uddin Mazumder said that he would discuss the matter with the authorities concerned. “Any kind of illegal activities will not be tolerated,” Mazumder added.