Rangirkhari - SMCH road: “Only for 100 metres why are we stopping the whole construction,” CM caught fuming

Confusion, lack of coordination and communication gap, in CM’s five-minute stop to inspect the Rangirkhari to Silchar Medical College and Hospital exposed many loopholes. The condition of the road is a disaster at best and suicidal at worse. Vehicles breakdown almost every day and the commuters end up with severe aches. The construction work of the road was brought to a halt abruptly after the Assembly elections results.

Today, the chief minister asked concerned the officials about the abrupt stoppage of work. The response left him fuming. The official said that there is a dispute with a piece of land due to which the road is getting narrowed down. “That is why we have stopped the work. It is something that was suggested to us,” said the official. He hinted that the MP and MLA asked him to stop the work under construction.

Chief minister, who is also the PWD minister of the State was fuming at the response. “For a hundred metre dispute, why are we keeping the entire work shut,” he questioned with disgust. Last time Sarma was here in Silchar to inaugurate the ICU, he had said that he is highly disappointed with the work done in Barak Valley. “If I give Rs 5 crore in Guwahati good roads get built but here in Silchar nothing happens. So, the people should not question the department, instead hold the local MLAs accountable,” he had said last September.

Today, dejected by the response he got from the official, Sarma looked at MP Rajdeep Roy and then spoke with Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli. He was clear with his opinion that the entire road construction must not be kept in abeyance for one dispute bothering only 100 metres. While he was speaking with DC, MP Rajdeep Roy intervened and said, “We did not ask you to keep the entire work on hold. At the deputy commissioner’s office, in the presence of Silchar MLA we said that continue with the work going in between Rangirkhari to Kathal Road…” before he could finish the sentence, the CM moved on to deputy commissioner with his instructions.

The condition of the road deteriorated to the extend that the local leaders got contractors to mend it before the arrival of the chief minister. This is the road through which the Ambulances ply to the Hospital. There are eight hospitals, National Institute of Technology and Assam University. Commuters’ daily lifeline remains in ventilation, now if today’s dose of disgust make a difference on ground is something that remains to be seen.