| Dhubri | ||
May 12 : If there were a barometer to measure how unmotorable a road is, Dhubri’s stretches of asphalt would probably register the highest recordings. So bad are the roads that rickshaws turn down passengers and refuse to inch anywhere near most of the town’s roads. Having damaged their vehicle’s parts on the bumpy potholed stretches, the rickshaw pullers now know better. The loss incurred by refusing passengers is far less than that cost of repairing the three-wheelers. “We feel sorry that we cannot take passengers to some of the places but take pity on us. The condition of the roads is so bad that we have to spend more on repairs, leaving nothing in our pockets,” said Mobarak Ali, a rickshawpuller of Boro Maszid area. Thanks to huge potholes, Dhubri residents now cannot bank on rickshaws to ferry them Balurchar, Newghat, Iddgah Field, Panchughat and Jail Road. Residents allege that the Congress, which led Dhubri Municipal Board for the past five years, has failed to provide even the basic amenities. Saradindu Banerjee, an academician and social worker who has enacted several street dramas on the deteriorating condition of the town, said in the past five years things have gone from bad to worse. “The roads are either in a dilapidated condition or half of them have been encroached upon, leaving only a narrow path for pedestrians,” he said. Besides, there are streetlights only in 16 wards, while the supply of tap water is restricted to seven wards. “The clogged drains have remained uncleaned for years, garbage is not lifted regularly, tap water supply is at the mercy of power supply. If there is power, you will get water or else you will have to go without water for days,” Banerjee said. Erratic power supply has only added to the woes. This, despite the fact that the municipal board has little to maintain apart from the water supply, a few markets and ghats. All the parks, cremation grounds, buses and even annual fairs are managed by the committees formed by the local people. The executive officer of Dhubri Municipal Board, Pranab Kumar Sarma, said a project has been prepared for all-round development of Dhubri town. “We are aware of the dilapidated condition of Dhubri roads and will act upon it as soon as the counting for Lok Sabha elections is over. Programmes have already been chalked out and it is now time to implement it,” Sarma said. |
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