Locals of Kathal Road AJK Lane caught between crossroad, Huge scam by Gaon Panchayat representative in drain construction

A lane in Silchar’s Kathal Road falls both within the jurisdiction of Silchar Municipal Board’s Ward Number 17 and Meherpur Gaon Panchayat. When the side drain for Kathal Road’s AJK Lane was sanctioned, both Silchar Municipal Board and Meherpur GP became the executing agency for opposite sides of the road. Under the 14th Finance Commission of 2017-18 in the second instalment, 6 lakh 52 thousand rupees was sanctioned for the construction of the side drain for the road. The foundation stone was also laid by Milu Rani Sutradhar, the GP President but the locals alleged that the work was executed without any plan and the GP President formed an alliance with the Secretary and Local Member and looted the whole amount by forging some signatures.

The locals of the AJK lane of Kathal Road alleged that the GP President of Meherpur Milu Rani Sutradhar along with GP Secretary, Rinku Bhowmick and GP Member of the ward Ashwini Sinha formed a fake construction committee and looted the entire amount sanctioned after namesake drain construction. Other than that, the Municipality has also constructed the drain on the other side of the road, but the height of the drain was 3 feet higher than the road. Which has resulted in huge discomfort for the locals. With this, the breadth of the road has decreased from 6 feet to 3 feet only.

On Friday, the locals called the media to inform about this scam and the looting of money. A local while speaking to the media said, “I am a local of the lane and without informing me, they sanctioned the work in my name. After the work started, Ashwini Kumar Sinha, the ward member who is also a friend of mine asked me to give him some money from constriction work and he wil return me the money soon. Out of friendship, I along with some other friends from this area lend him around 60 thousand cash for construction. But when the amount was sanctioned by the government, they forged my signature and withdrew the money from Axis Bank, National Highway branch”.

Later when they went to the GP President and Secretary, they kept on delaying their dues and it has been 2 years but no one was paid back any amount by the Goan Panchayat. In such conditions, one drain remains incomplete and the other drain is higher than the road. In such conditions, the people of the AJK lane are truly caught between two stools. The locals have expressed their woes and said, no car or auto can enter the lane, and hardly bi-cycle and bikes can ply this narrow road, which makes the commute difficult for students, the elderly and patients other than the general mass.