Toll Active, Repairs Absent: Silchar-Haflong Highway Leaves Commuters In Misery

The Silchar-Haflong Saurashtra Highway has deteriorated severely due to years of neglect, turning into a serious hazard for commuters and drivers. Large potholes have formed across the length of the road, making daily travel dangerous. Residents and drivers say they are forced to navigate the route at considerable risk every single day, with minor and major accidents becoming a regular occurrence.

The worst affected section is the Japirbond stretch in the Udharbond area. Locals say the road has been in this condition for several years and becomes completely unfit for use every monsoon season. Despite repeated concerns from residents, neither the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited nor the district administration has taken any effective steps to repair the road so far.

Addressing the media, locals said that every monsoon the road reaches this devastating state and nothing is done to fix it despite toll tax being collected from commuters. They said accidents happen daily and people continue to get hurt. The stretch from the toll gate to Latigram is in particularly bad condition. Locals alleged that authorities merely drop stones and boulders onto the damaged sections without allowing the surface to dry first, which causes the road to return to the same deteriorated state repeatedly.

The toll gate at Balachara on this road has become a major point of resentment among residents. Locals questioned why they are required to pay toll tax every day to use a road that is in such a poor condition and why the authorities responsible for collecting toll fees have remained silent on repairs.

Residents cited specific incidents caused by the road’s condition. Just last week, a motorcycle accident on the stretch left the rider with his left hand fractured in two places. In a separate incident, an auto-rickshaw overturned on the same road, injuring its passengers. Locals warned that if the road is not repaired at the earliest, they will be compelled to launch a larger agitation.