Concentrated Area: Noonmati (22B)
Ward No: 22
Population of the ward: 65,000
Voter Population: 16,700
Population of Noonmati: 6,750
Ward Councillor: Rajen Das
Clay and soil spilling from overloaded dumper trucks has caused “irreparable” damage to the Maniram Dewan Road in the Noonmati area of the city.
Locals complained that the soil and sands spills from the trucks that ply on the road at night and are parked in clusters on the road overnight are making it uneven and difficult to traverse.
The road runs from Chandmari to Guwahati Refinery in Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) Ward No 22 and meets Mother Teresa Road at Forest Gate. It is at its worst condition near the Assam Jatiya Bidyalaya, one of the prominent schools of the city.
The dumpers ferry soil cut from the Kharghuli hills in Chandrapur area to retrieve clay, soil and other construction materials and transport those through Noonmati to the various construction sites beyond the locality.
“The road was built not even a year back and it was in perfectly good condition. But due to the spilled soil on the roads, it has become so uneven that it is as good as an unconstructed road,” Biren Saikia, a resident of Noonmati said.
For the record, the Public Welfare Department (PWD) headquarters is just about 2 kms from where the road has got damaged.
When contacted, a PWD official said, “Taking off the dumped soil is a cumbersome task. It cannot be done by a machine as it might damage the road. We will need to employ manual labourers to chisel out one cluster dump at a time. It’s both money consuming and a lengthy process.”
Talking about the impact that these dumped clusters might have on the roads, the official added, “We warn the local authorities on these issues repeatedly as these might damage the roads earlier than it is supposed to be. These soil dumps will then create holes on the roads that will expand with time as more vehicles travel over those.”
Locals suspect “land mafia” role
Locals indicate the involvement of land mafias behind the frequent hill cutting in Chandrapur.
Fearing the land mafia’s involvement, they do not intervene and one resident, under condition of anonymity said, “We cannot not stop these trucks but we have asked the authorities to take stern action against these overloaded trucks. But so far no action has been taken. This indicates that they are also in connivance with these hill cutters.”
The route is also being used by dumpers that mine sand from the government designated sand quarries in Morigaon district.
“But soil would not have spilled on the roads if these trucks were not overloaded. The trucks can only transport a certain permissible amount of soil or sand. If found flouting that limit, the errant trucks are supposed to be towed by the police and can only be released after paying a fine. If that is not happening, there is probably a bigger syndicate involved,” another resident alleged.
Meanwhile, several others pointed out that the speeding trucks also made it dangerous for the people there to commute at night.
“The trucks are always speeding. It seems they are trying to evade the law or get past this area in a hurry. Due to these trucks, it becomes very unsafe to ride in small vehicles at night as these vehicles do not seem to slow down at all for the approaching traffic,” Biren Deka, a resident who often commutes on the road at night, said.
Councillor fails to control errant dumpers
Rajen Das, the councillor of Ward No 22 said that despite several attempts, he could not control these truck movements.
“I have taken the issue to the transport department, traffic police, forest department and even the PWD, but no solution came up. They are not supposed to cut hills in Kharghuli, but still it happens late in the nights. This not only has ruined the roads, but has also aggravated the erosion problem in the area. Once the hill is cut, it is very hard to detect from where the soil is being brought,” Das said.
According to the forest department, the quarry site for sand and soil has been designated at Morigaon, about 27 kms from Chandrapur.
But to avoid travelling that far and paying taxes to the government, they cut the Kharghuli hills. The hills extend over a large area and the department does not have the kind of manpower required to patrol the entire area. Taking advantage of the loopholes, they do it,” the forest official said.
“We have apprehended people on several occasions, but they pay the fine and do it again,” the official added.
Das had urged the residents to make themselves aware about these dumper trucks.
“I urge the residents to take photographs of such speeding dumpers and share it with the authorities. If the authorities can get the photographic proof and the registration numbers of such trucks, these situations can be thwarted and stern action can be taken against the culprits,” Das said.
