Sonai Road's Monsoon Misery.....

About a decade back, a friend of mine, who stays in Sonai Road, would often boast that his locality had the best road in Silchar town. He would also proudly claim that Sonai Road was also immune from routine problems such as floods and water logging.

A blockade at Sonai Road by angry residents

Ten years down the line, the same friend is planning to purchase a boat as the locality, he was once so proud of, now remains water logged during the entire summer and monsoon seasons. During the dry seasons also, the road is in such terrible shape that driving through it everyday is a direct invitation to dangerous diseases such as spondylitis.    

So, what has gone wrong in Sonai Road in the last few years? Why an arterial national highway connecting Mizoram, a state of the Indian dominion, with the rest of the country has been allowed to deteriorate so much that even the residents staying along side this important road are now considering shifting to other localities of the town.

The answers to these questions lie in two important developments that have taken place in that area in the last few years ­– the indifferent attitude of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) towards the condition of the road and indiscriminate urbanisation of the areas around Sonai Road without any focus on the drainage infrastructure.

There was a time when the residents of Silchar used to consider the BRO a model organisation. People would often say that the inefficient state PWD officials should learn from BRO the art of properly constructing and maintaining roads in a heavy rainfall low lying area like Barak Valley. However, just the opposite seems to have happened. The BRO seems to have learnt from PWD the art of constructing poor quality roads and then not maintaining them at all!

The problems regarding Sonai Road started in 2007-08 when the decision was taken to double lane the highway. Tenders were floated and contracts were awarded. But sadly after five years, not much work has been done barring a few stretches here and there. On top of this, BRO also stopped the routine maintenance work of the road with the excuse that the highway was to be double laned in any case within a few years.  

The local leaders also do not bother much about the plight of the road as they have a ready excuse that the highway is a centrally maintained road and the state government cannot do much about it. On the other hand, the BRO officials also are not scared of any pressure created by the MLAs and the state ministers as their bosses sit in far away Delhi who have many more important things to do then to bother about the condition of a road in God forbidden Barak Valley. Unfortunately, the two MPs we have from the valley have no influence or stature in Delhi to make the BRO top bosses sit up and take notice.

The problem of water logging was not so rampant in Sonai Road about five to seven years back. There were enough low lying agricultural fields around the road where the water could go during the rainy season. However, large tracts of agricultural land have been transformed into residential areas by unscientific land filling with no importance given to drainage. There are innumerable dingy lanes around Sonai Road where there are practically no drains.

The administration, all this while, expectedly, was sleeping. Acres of low lying fields were being filled up and the canal which passes through Sonai Road and Hailakandi Road was being encroached upon by the residents of the area. The drains that did exist were never cleaned up either. The problem that we see today is entirely man made and both the administration and local residents are to be blamed for the woes that the people are facing today.

The indifference of BRO and the local administration is extremely disturbing as, apart from being the main connection to Mizoram, the road also houses important and prestigious educational institutions such as the Holy Cross School and Radha Madhab College where students come every day braving the terrible road condition.

The Jana Jagaran Mancha, an NGO from the area has taken up this problem vigorously. They have organised innumerable blockades and dharnas to invite the attention of the local administration but the response so far has been feeble. Silchar MLA Susmita Dev has taken initiative to get the canals cleaned in the area but the real results are yet to be achieved as the road and the adjacent lanes are still getting water logged within hours of heavy downpours.

Sonai Road Unnayan Sanstha, another body from the area has announced an indefinite blockade of the road from tomorrow demanding immediate redressal of the problems faced by the people.   Let us hope that this time the authorities wake up to the woes of the people.

Silchar's aviation crisis

The recent incident of an Air India ATR flight from Silchar to Guwahati landing under emergency circumstances at the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport has again brought to the fore the precarious condition of the air services connecting Silchar with the rest of the country. 

The airline parking bay of Silchar airport (Photo Courtesy: www.wikipedia.com)

 The rail and road connections to Barak Valley have been in pathetic state for last two decades now. In fact, the condition is gradually deteriorating year after year with no hope of any immediate improvement at sight. The air services, somehow, evoke more optimism among the people, as the civil aviation sector comes under the central government with no interference from the state. Moreover, our unscrupulous netas also travel by air and therefore, we can at least hope that they would be more proactive to improve the air connectivity of the region.

However, an assessment of the current state of affairs reveals that this optimism is grossly misplaced. There are innumerable problems surrounding the aviation sector also with no immediate solution available.

The primary problem surrounding the air services here, which has also been highlighted in an article on this blog earlier, is the inadequacy of the number of flights connecting Silchar with the other important cities of the country. Silchar has a couple of flights everyday from Kolkata along with an Air India Airbus that flies to this remote town four times a week. This apart, there are absolutely no connections to any location outside the north east.

There are two flights to Guwahati a day, which in total can accommodate only about 140 passengers, which is grossly inadequate. The other flights to regional locations such as Agartala, Imphal and Tezpur makes Silchar the fourth busiest airport in the north east, but how much these contribute in terms of providing the necessary connectivity with the rest of the country is debatable.

The timing of the flights also leave a lot to be desired. The Air India and Jet Konnect ATR flights from Kolkata to Silchar leave very early in the morning. Therefore, passengers coming from other cities to take a flight to Silchar from Kolkata have to depend on the afternoon Air India Airbus that flies only four times a week. The Air India flight from Guwahati to Silchar also leaves very early again posing the same problem.

Concern For Silchar tried to get in touch with the authorities of all the private airlines asking them whether they had any plans to start new services to Silchar. Unfortunately, we received absolutely no response from any one of them. In the last six months, the cash strapped Kingfisher Airlines has also discontinued its services from Silchar to Kolkata and Imphal, which has further added to the woes of the people.

What queers the pitch further is the fact that Dibrugarh has two direct flights to Delhi, while Jorhat has one flight to Bengaluru. Imphal and Agartala have innumerable flights to all the major cities of the country. So, what stops the airline companies from starting services connecting Silchar is indeed a mystery.

The Civil Aviation Ministry is also planning to promote Dibrugarh as an aviation hub. Locals in Dibrugarh claim that local MP and Union Minister Pawan Singh Ghatowar has taken a lot of pains to arrange direct flights from Delhi and promote his town as an aviation centre. Unfortunately, the severe leadership crisis and vacuum engulfing Barak Valley has ensured that there are no leaders of stature to speak for us at any platform, be it the parliament or the state assembly.

Another major issue hindering the improvement of air services to Silchar is the inadequate infrastructure at the airport. The departure lounge, at best, looks like a large apartment which becomes extremely crowded if two flights are to take off one after another. The presence of only one baggage scanner further adds to the chaos. Even if a new airline plans to start services, where would they install their counters, as there is absolutely no space left after the counters of Air India and Jet Airways.

The Instrument Landing System, that facilitates the movement of flights after sunset has been installed at the airport long back and the Air Force aircrafts are also availing this facility, but there are no efforts to allow the civil flights to land or take off after dark. This has seriously paralysed the regularity and frequency of flights as services that get delayed, often have to be cancelled due to bad light. Apparently, the Air Force authorities are not too keen to allow night landing at the airport, but in the larger interest of the people, our leaders have to lobby extremely hard to get the night landing nod soon.

In 2010, expressions of interest were invited for the empanelment of architectural firms for the designing of a new 7400 sqm passenger terminal at the Silchar Airport. However, almost three years have elapsed since that notification and no action has been noticed regarding the overhauling of the terminal building at Silchar. In the mean time, new swanky airport terminals have come up at Dibrugarh and Shillong, which have much lesser air traffic compared to Silchar. Interestingly, AAI Update, a newsletter published by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) features a query by an AAI official posted in Silchar about the expansion plans of the airport. Let us hope at least he has got the answer to his query as the common man is still in dark about the future plans.

The other important issue is the condition of the aircrafts that fly to Silchar. While we are not aviation engineers and therefore, not qualified to comment about the technical condition of the planes, the external look of some of the planes, especially the ATRs used by Air India, do not evoke any confidence at all. The incident that took place last week only further strengthens our aspersions.

After the miraculous escape of the 48 passengers aboard Air India flight 9760 last week, our leaders have become active. Silchar MP Kabindra Purkayastha and state minister Siddique Ahmed have written to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh demanding the overall improvement of the air services to Barak Valley. Let us hope that the minister takes cognizance of the concerns shown by the leaders and takes some urgent measures to improve the state of affairs.