SILCHAR: Heavy rainfall over the past two days has adversely affected the East-West corridor, especially the stretch from Cachar district’s Balacherra to Dima Hasao district’s Harangajao, causing massive disruption to vehicular movement.
Landslides in multiple areas between Balacherra and Harangajao, including Durgacherra, Durbintilla and Bandarkhal, because of heavy rains has brought vehicular movement to a standstill for long hours since Tuesday. In many places, the road has been inundated by rainwaters and mud.
Excavators have been pressed into service to clear the road and make it motorable. Ongoing construction of the road has also been affected because of the inclement weather. Besides the Balacherra-Harangajao portion, inclement weather has affected the Haflong-Harangajao and Balacherra-Silchar stretches as well.
S. S. Reddy, project director, Sushee Infra, said that the route (Balacherra-Harangajao road), which experienced landslides and mudslides at different locations, was cleared around 3 am on Wednesday, but fresh landslides in the morning brought vehicular movement to a halt again.
Work is underway to clear the route and restore movement of vehicles as early as possible, Reddy said.
As per a weather bulletin issued by the regional meteorological centre in Guwahati on Tuesday, Dima Hasao is likely to witness fairly widespread rainfall on Wednesday, scattered rainfall on Thursday and isolated rainfall on Friday and Saturday.
Cachar is likely to witness fairly widespread rainfall on Wednesday and isolated rainfall on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In both the districts, the rains will be accompanied by thunderstorms, the weather bulletin said.
The East-West corridor to connect Barak Valley’s Silchar with Gujarat’s Saurashtra was announced by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on October 10, 1998. Its foundation stone was laid by the then minister for surface transport B.C. Khanduri and Union finance minister Jaswant Singh in 2004. The 3,300km-road was supposed to be completed by 2007.
Construction of the East-West corridor has been completed in other parts of the country, barring two stretches – one is the Balacherra-Harangajao route (about 25.15km) and another is the Harangajao-Nirimbanglo portion (about 49km).
The Balacherra-Harangajao stretch, which used to be 31 km-long earlier, was reduced to 25.15 km after the route was redesigned in some areas owing to various geomorphic factors. Landslips, especially during the monsoons, and heavy to very-heavy rainfall have been the major reasons behind the tardy pace of construction of the two incomplete routes over the years.
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