Suroj Barman
Haflong: Residents of at least 29 villages in South Assam’s Dima Hasao district, affected by land dumping for the construction of National Highway-27 (NH-54), have launched an indefinite dharna in Haflong.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Indigenous Students Forum (ISF), Indigenous Women Forum (IWF), and NHAI Affected People staged a sit-in demonstration at Jatinga point along National Highway 27 in Halong on Monday, demanding the early release of compensation.
Traffic on NH-27 in the area was heavily disrupted by the protest. Later, the protesters moved to the NHAI Project Implementing Unit office in Haflong town to inquire about the cause of the delay in the release of payment. Surprisingly, no NHAI officials were present to interact with them.
ISF president David Keivom said, “We along with the land owners of 29 villages have launched an indefinite dharna. It was announced that we would be compensated by the NHAI and the Railway. The Railway has already compensated us following the intervention of then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in 2020.”
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
“Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also directed the NHAI on 25 January 2022 in a meeting to compensate us. The NHAI also had agreed to do so. Whatever necessary bill was required to be given to the NHAI by the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) was already handed over. But the NHAI despite being told by the Chief Minister or the Home department is not paying heed to it,” he said.
Keivom added that the NHAI told them that they would carry out black topping of the Jatinga-Harangajao stretch of the NH and sought 6 months to do that and the road is still the same after 9 months and has further deteriorated.
“We will continue the agitation until our demand is met,” he added.
As per the forum over 945 families residing along Nrimbanglo- Harangajao have been affected due to land dumping at their paddy field for which the bill amount is Rs 32 crores have been presented by the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council’s revenue department to the NHAI for compensation.
“Large areas of my fertile land where we earn our livelihood were destroyed by the construction company. Whenever we approach the company they make a false complain of threatening them with arms. If we are not compensated, how my family will survive, we have lost our land and source of or livelihood,” a woman of Nrimbanglo said.
“Over 6 bighas of my land where I produce pineapple, pan, orange and ginger have been destroyed by the dumping of earth by the company. Now the land is of no use, I cannot plant any crops or build house there. Over 10 years have passed since I ask them for compensation, but they don’t pay any heed to our grievance,” an elderly women of Jatinga village said.
The East-West corridor, a dream project of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee to connect south Assam’s Silchar with Gujarat’s Saurashtra (via road) was announced by Vajpayee on October 10, 1998.
The foundation stone of the project was laid in 2004 and the 3,300 km Silchar-Saurashtra road was supposed to be completed by 2007.
Notably, construction of the corridor has been completed in other parts of the country, barring the two stretches i.e Nrimbanglo-Jatinga stretch and Jatinga-Harangajao stretch around 49.23 km combining the two portions.