Supplies hit as rains, landslides block lone highway link to Tripura

Officials in Agartala said that very few trucks have managed to cross the dilapidated highway between Lowerpoah and Churaibari on the inter-state border.

tripura, tripura roadblock, NH-53 block, tripura highway block, Assam-Tripura inter-state border block, north-east news, tripura news, india news

Officials in Agartala said that very few trucks have managed to cross the dilapidated highway between Lowerpoah and Churaibari on the inter-state border.

Supply of essential items including food grains and petroleum products to the landlocked state of Tripura have been severely affected in the past few days following heavy rains and landslides that have turned NH-53 into a virtual dirt track on the Assam-Tripura inter-state border.

Officials in Agartala said that with very few trucks managing to cross the dilapidated highway between Lowerpoah and Churaibari on the inter-state border, Tripura has not only been facing an acute shortage of essential commodities including fuel, prices of most items have also shot up. Petrol is being sold at anywhere between Rs 130 and Rs 150 in the black market.

“Our government has written several letters to the Centre as well as the Assam government for taking up repair works on the NH-53 portion on the inter-state border, but there has been very little response,” said a Tripura official in Agartala who did not want to be quoted. State Governor Tathagata Roy has also written to Nitin Gadkari, the Union Road Transport and Highway Minister seeking his immediate intervention, the official said.

While not a single truck including oil and LPG tankers could enter Tripura for five days at a stretch since last weekend due to worsening of the road condition, truck drivers stranded for days on the highway on Thursday demonstrated against the authorities demanding immediate repair of the road.

“We have tried to ease the situation by clearing about 200 stranded trucks since Thursday,” Manoj Kumar Deka, deputy commissioner of Karimganj district in Assam said on Friday. Deka however said about 600 Tripura-bound goods-laden trucks were still stranded on the Assam side due to the bad road.

“Heavy rains in the past few days have worsened the road condition,” he said. Rains have also triggered off landslides, particularly in Lowerpoah, thus further worsening the situation.

The situation has been further complicated due to suspension of train services between Lumding and Badarpur in Assam for over two months due to massive landslides in the Dima Hasao district.

Story continues below this ad

“Some portion of essential commodities could have been sent to Tripura by railway trains because the track is functioning between Badarpur and Agartala. But then there has been no movement of trains from Lumding to Badarpur for several weeks,” Karimganj deputy commissioner Deka pointed out.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram