BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 27th September 2023: In a bold move to draw attention to the perilous state of National Highway No. 8, residents of Nadiapur Shanichhara under Dharmanagar Sub-division took matters into their own hands, staging a blockade on Wednesday morning.
The highway, often dubbed a “death trap,” had been the subject of repeated complaints, falling on deaf ears within the administrative echelons.*
The villagers, frustrated by the lack of cooperation from the authorities, made the decision to block the road in the area adjacent to the towering Shanichhara tall tree, situated under the jurisdiction of Nadiapur Shanichhara Gram Panchayat.
At approximately 10:15 am, after an hour of road closure, officers from Churaibari police station and the head of the local village panchayat arrived at the scene. Laxinder Sinha, the chief of the local village panchayat, assured both drivers and villagers that immediate steps were being taken to rectify the dilapidated road. With this assurance, the blockade was promptly lifted.
The hour-long blockade left over fifty vehicles stranded on both sides, with drivers and co-drivers enduring extreme heat and suffocating conditions. Locals expressed concern that such a situation could lead to numerous hospitalizations if roadblocks were to persist for even half an hour.
Assurances from the authorities have brought a glimmer of hope, with initiatives to rehabilitate the road slated to commence in the coming days. The community remains cautiously optimistic, hopeful for a safer future on National Highway No. 8.