Residents from six villages staged a blockade in Tripura, demanding immediate repairs of a severely deteriorated stretch of National Highway 8. The protest took place in the Kherengjuri area under the Dharmanagar subdivision in the North Tripura District on Saturday.
The 13-kilometer stretch of NH-8, spanning from Churaibari Sale tax to Noagaon, has become nearly impassable due to its deplorable condition. Crater-like potholes have turned the highway into a hazard for pedestrians and vehicles alike, leading to frequent accidents. A pregnant woman, en route to Shanichhara Hospital, recently died allegedly owing to a delay in reaching the hospital due to poor road conditions. Transportation of the sick and elderly people to the Hospital has become a tedious affair due to the bad condition of the road.
According to the protesters, the national highway has not seen any significant maintenance for the past one and a half to two years. The daily movement of hundreds of trucks has exacerbated the situation, turning the road into a quagmire. Market-goers, students, and local residents are facing severe difficulties in their daily commute, with some even risking their lives on the hazardous road.
Previous attempts by the North District administration to address the issue proved ineffective. Temporary measures, such as filling potholes with brick chips, failed as the heavy trucks quickly crushed the material, returning the road to its dilapidated state. Frustration reached a boiling point on Saturday when residents from Kherengjuri, Balichhara, Chandpur, Laxmipur, Uttar Fulbari, and Dakshin Fulbari blocked the highway from 11 am.
The protesters were demanding that only a proper repair, involving filling the potholes with durable stones and making the road suitable for vehicle movement, would prompt them to lift the blockade. Until then, the blockade will continue. The blockade caused long queues of goods and passenger vehicles on both sides of the protest site.
After an agonizing seven-hour road blockade, the agitating villagers cleared the road following the intervention of the local MLA, administration and social activists.
(Tripura, Tripura News)
