More than a hundred of students along with villagers staged a protest demonstration demanding construction of an approach bridge connecting two sides of the village, Debattar Khopati Part 1 under Bodoland Territorial Are Districts (BTAD).
Development for the Debattar Khopati Part 1 village in Gauripur LAC falls under Debitola Development Block of BTAD is still an alien concept.
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In the village, there is over 3000 population who basically reside in remote areas and majority of them belong to the minority community. Although there are three Lower Primary and two Middle English schools, including one ME Madrassa but lack of proper infrastructure and irregular attendance of teachers have affected the students’ fraternity.
The villagers while talking to Northeast Now alleged that they have rarely witnessed visit of any official or public representative to their village as commuting to these areas for the leaders and officials is a ‘headache’ due to the communication bottleneck.
Mahamdul Hussain, a resident of the village, alleged, “Although the Government claims to have implemented several projects to eradicate socio-economic problems but such projects are a non-starter in our village.”
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He added, “Though our village is hardly 10 km away from the Debitola Development Block, we are deprived of almost all basic amenities and facilities which have been promised by the Government.”
River Silan has divided the village in two parts.
While many of the people reside in one side of the river, the educational institutes are located in other side of the river.
The school students find it tough to cross the river to attend their educational institutions. The villagers and the school students have been compelled to cross the river on boat which is managed by themselves.
Healthcare facilities are also not available in the village. The patients have to travel all the way to Dhubri Civil Hospital, located nearly 30 km away, for medical assistance.
Uttam Hazowari, a local leader of United People’s Progressive Liberation (UPPL), expressed their grave concern over the poor infrastructure of the village and said it might be the 21st century for the rest of the country, but for the residents of Debottar Khopati Part I, development is still a mirage.
The Debottar Khopati Part I village falls under Gauripur Assembly constituency and AIUDF’s Mizanur Rahman won the seat in 2016 Assembly election while the administrative areas of the said village are controlled by the Bodo Territorial Council.