Tripura cut-off by road from rest of country

Agartala, July 4 (IANS) The land-locked Tripura was cut-off from the rest of the country by road as a large portion of National Highway-44 (NH-44) was damaged in Assam due to the rains, a minister said here Friday.

The National Highway got badly damaged in around 10 km in southern Assam's Karimganj district three days ago due to incessant monsoon rains.

The 630-km-long NH-44 is the only one that links Tripura by road with the rest of India via Shillong and Guwahati.

The Tripura government sought Assam and Border Roads Organisation's (BRO) help to urgently repair the road, described as the life line of Tripura.

The BRO under the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways maintains the National Highways in northeast India.

"Our transport secretary and chief engineer of PWD (Public Works Department) Thursday have taken up the matter with their Assam counterparts to take steps to urgently repair the national highway," Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey told IANS.

He said: "Our officials have requested the Assam government officials to urgently take up the matter with the BRO.

"Senior engineers of PWD of both Assam and Tripura have visited the spot (225 km north of Agartala) Thursday. We have also requested the BRO to restore the damaged roads."

An official of the Tripura transport department told IANS that over 2,000 goods laden trucks and other vehicles with passengers have been stranded for the past three days after the road was damaged.

"If the damaged road was not renovated on urgent basis, the situation would be further worsened and the crisis of essential commodities would be further aggravated," the official said.