Silchar, Nov 1: CPM’s Cachar-Hailakandi district committee observed November 1 as “public demand day” highlighting the various grievances of the people of Barak Valley and threatened agitation against the alleged anti-people policies of the Centre and the State Government.
CPM leaders and workers, along with supporters, today staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Cachar Deputy Commissioner after taking out a procession with banners and placards, articulating their demands.
CPM leaders, while addressing party workers, spoke of how the people of Barak Valley had been facing untold hardship due to the apathy and indifference of both the UPA and State governments. They said if the long-pending grievances of the people were not addressed and remedied on priority basis, the party would be left with no option but to launch movement in the Valley.
“It is really pathetic to look at the inter-valley network of roads and highways,” said the party leaders.
The vital NH 44 stretch in the Valley is almost nonexistent. Commuters and pedestrians are falling prey to different skin and internal ailments due to the bad road condition. They have to risk their life on highways and roads, they said.
The fate of Silchar-Lumding BG is uncertain. So is that of the East-West Corridor. It was stressed that both these projects should be completed within the extended time-frame. It is surprising that despite allotment of funds by the Centre, there has not been any progress of the work on the alternative Silchar-Guwahati road. Equally deplorable is the attitude of the State Government towards embankments and their reinforcement as villages after villages and even highways are becoming vulnerable to erosion.
Some of the villages have already been swallowed by swirling waters of the Barak. The NH 53 near Panchgram has been eroded and washed away.
The CPM leaders also came down heavily on the government for anomalies in the Chief Minister’s Anna Suraksha Yojana, terming it a “political game” of the ruling Congress.
According to the CPM leaders, the scheme meant for the poor has turned into a farce. The NREGA is steeped in deep-rooted corruption and has proved to be a failure. The public resentment against the policies of the Centre and the State Government is mounting.
They also said the CPM would mobilize the people and educate them soon about the need to give vent to their grievances by participating in a mass movement. (The Sentinel)