Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Nov. 07: The residents of Ward No. 06, Subhashgram under Diglipur Tehsil have been facing severe commuting woes owing to the engulfment of the full width of the rural road starting from APWD main road to Ganesh Das house via Basanta Das house by the the nallah during the raging flood that occurred in the month of July this year.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha Daily, the residents of the area said, “There is a nallah which erodes our land every year during the rainy season. In fact, the nallah engulfed our road when the flood happened in early July this year. With no road or the engulfed-road in our area has put us in great difficulties thereby severely disrupting our lives; and most importantly, our school-going children are the worst affected”, they fumed. In fact, the nallah has not only engulfed the road in question but also it has swallowed up a sizable area of our land with standing plantations of areca nut trees, claimed Mr. Jagadish Das, a resident of the area.
The residents further said that erosion by river/nalla is a natural phenomenon and what is required is to arrest the erosion process by erecting retaining walls along the land/nallah side so that their land can be protected from this erosion. And they informed all the three PRIs about the rundown condition of this road and the elected members reportedly paid their visits to the spot and gave their empty assurances that the work would be taken up on priority basis, but they did nothing to alleviate their commuting woes, they further alleged. The villagers also approached the officials of the APWD, CD, Diglipur and apprised them all of the tumble-down condition of the road, but their pleas fell into deaf ears; no initiative was taken from any of the institutions so far and they have been facing the wrath of this situation for the last many years, they lamented.
On the other hand, the entire stretch of the road is in ramshackle state, and it literally doesn’t exist, it is filled with innumerable pot-holes and only some quantum of gravels can be seen on the road thereby rendering it to a complete unworthy for vehicular movement, the locals added. Initially the people of the area were told that a sixty (60) meter long “Retaining Wall” would be constructed at the site to arrest the erosion thereby protecting the road and their land, but the present scenario presents a different picture; it undeniably needs approx. 70-80 meter long “Retaining Wall” to protect the road and their land in the area, they insisted.
Amid all this, the honourable Member of Parliament Shri Bishnapada Ray, out of his hectic schedule, paid a short visit to the area and inspected the condition of the engulfed road in question. He then interacted with the residents of the area and listened to their grievances. The villagers apprised the honourable MP of their hardships owing to this road and land erosion which need to be protected at any cost. The villagers also handed over the previous letters of correspondence with the higher authorities to this effect to the MP Mahoday in anticipation that their issue would be aptly addressed this time, they said.
