Protest against Udharbond MLA Mihir Kanti Shome in Silchar; Rongpur residents blamed him for shambolic roads in Karatigram

Karatigram lies in the suburbs of Silchar in Rongpur. The residence of the present Ward Commissioner of Rongpur Part IV also lies in that area. The condition of the road is in total shambles and has been the same for a very long time. Even after repeated demands, when the repair works of this road were ignored by the two times MLA of Udharbond, Mihir Kanti Shome, the residents took to the street to demonstrate against this “injustice”.

On Monday morning, the residents of Rongpur, Karatigram gathered in front of the Khudairam Bose statue in Club Road as a sign of protest. Around a hundred men and women gathered and raised their voices in unison against MLA Shome. Their claim, while the roads and lanes of every nook and corner of Udharbond are developing, Karatigram is left unattended. Questioning this step-motherly behaviour of the government, they have also asked why the Madhura Bridge is not being opened, when the construction began almost a decade back.

The front man of the protest and a resident of that area, Rupesh Chandra Das said, “It’s very disheartening to see the present MLA, who has been re-elected as our representative has done nothing for our ward since 2016. This road, Karatigram is frequented by around twenty-five thousand people daily and is a populous residential area. The condition of the road is so bad that there’s nothing but potholes”.

Rongpur Ward Number IV which lies in Silchar Municipality falls under Udharbond Assembly Constituency. “We fail to understand whether we live in any municipal area or is it a gram panchayat. Today even the interior gram panchayat areas have far better-paved roads. But we fail to understand, what force stops the government and MLA to bring sanctions for the repair of this road. You might have read in the headlines of daily newspapers a few days back, the workers of the MLA have said that 1 crore 30 lakh rupees were sanctioned for this road, but when we enquired about the same in the PWD office, turns out no such estimate has been made in fact. That was just propaganda”, Das further added.

Talking about the Madhura Rongpur bridge Das also said, “The bridge adjacent to this road, the Madhura Rongpur bridge whose construction began 10 years back is still under construction. The condition is so bad that it might break and fall down before the inauguration itself. We’ve even submitted a memorandum about the same to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar and even reminded her again. But we’ve not received any repose from her end”. The protesters on Monday have wanted that, if the construction of this road doesn’t start immediately they’ll form another huge protest and block the road that connects Silchar with the Airport.