GUWAHATI, Sept 9 - Members of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) today blocked the national highways in all districts of the State in protest against the dilapidated condition of the roads. They also demanded recognition to the flood and erosion problems of Assam as the national ones and steps for their permanent solution.
A press statement issued by the AASU this evening here stated that its members blocked the national highways in all the districts of the State for one hour since 12 noon. Essential services like medical and ambulance services were exempted from the purview of this agitational programme.
AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath and general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said that the deplorable condition of the roads, including the national highways, has made movement of the common people very cumbersome.
The State government has been citing scarcity of stone chips as the cause for its failure to repair the roads. However, the AASU would not refrain from its agitational programmes until the condition of the roads all over the State is improved, warned the student body.
The AASU also alleged that the State government did not provide adequate relief to the people affected by the floods this year. It said these people were also deprived of medical treatment, while their domestic animals were not provided with the required amount of fodder as well as veterinary care.
There is no step taken to provide succour to the flood-hit farmers nor there is any step taken to repair the flood-damaged buildings of the educational institutions and supply textbooks to the flood-affected students, alleged the student body.
Charging the Central government that it has done sheer injustice to the people of the State so far as the flood and erosion are concerned, the AASU reiterated its demand that the Union government must declare Assam�s flood and erosion as national problems and take steps for their permanent solution.
