Link Road under water for 7th day, shop owners float paper boats addressed to SMB

June 6: Water logging for days together has been a common phenomenon in various parts of Silchar town. Torrential rainfall since last Sunday engulfed major parts of the town. Heavy rainfall also submerged various areas, adding to the misery of the urban dwellers. However, poor drainage system, has thrown life out of gear at 1st Link Road area of Silchar since almost a week. Accumulated rain water in the entire main road of 1st Link Road including almost all lanes became a major cause of concern for the residents of the area, shop owners and commuters.

“This is not the 1st time that we are experiencing such a miserable situation. We are left at the mercy of none since last so many years. Multiple times, we have approached many political leaders, Silchar Municipal Board (SMB) and district administration. Wherever we went, promises were made, which were never fulfilled till now.” In a sorrowful note, this was lamented by a retired teacher who lives in Lane No.7. A banker who has been staying in Link Road since last 15 years also expressed similar views. He said, “For us, all political parties are same. Neither the Congress Board, nor the BJP Board did anything to relieve the inhabitants of Link Road from this problem of water logging. This is a guardianless town.”

Those having shops in 1st Link Road are perhaps the worst sufferers. One such youth, who runs a stationary shop in the area said, “For long 2 months, we have to keep our shops closed due to lockdown. Now when we opened our shops after so many days, customers are unable to come. Link Road has become an island, everywhere there is water. Even inside many of the shops, water has come in from the drains. We have to sit inside our shops amidst such unhygienic condition for long hours.”

The allegations made by the residents and shop owners of 1st Link Road indeed deserves prompt positive response from the civic authorities. As a mark of outcry, a unique protest was registered by some shop owners of 1st Link Road. On Saturday, they made a paper boat with a poster on it which reads, “Blessings from Link Road.” Another sticker was affixed in the boat on which the destination of the boat was written. “Silchar Municipality Board” is the destination written on the boat.

“What more can we do? We can only voice our democratic protest against those whose prime duty was to make the town habitable out of the tax-payers money. We have lost out trust and faith on all. People of Link Road are like orphans to the civic authorities of Silchar, who have time for planning and designing ‘amusement park’ but no responsibility towards its tax-payers. The paper boat which we floated today is a symbolic protest against apathy towards us,” said a shop-owner of Link Road.

A retired government official stated that, “In the past decade, urban planners had pointed out several times that rapid urbanisation of Silchar has resulted in substantial increase in impervious area, created obstruction to natural drainage patterns, and reduced the detention basins, which in turn led to the shortening of the runoff concentration time and an increase of the peak flow.”