SILCHAR, Sept 10 � Admitting that there has been a great delay in repairing the dilapidated roads of Barak Valley particularly the NH-6 connecting Silchar with Guwahati, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhubaneswar Kalita on tuesday said that improvement of the national highway is a great challenge before the State Government.
�I understand the plight of the people of Barak Valley because of the deplorable road condition. I will not shy away from this fact and do admit that there has been a delay in addressing the problem which is a continuous phenomenon. However, the Government has sorted out ways to deal the issue with priority,� Kalita said addressing the media at the Congress Bhawan. He was quick to assure that the hiccups on the way towards the gauge conversion and Maha Sadak are done with and both the projects will be completed on time.
Rejecting the allegation by the BJP of violating the Model Code of Conduct announcing schemes before the voters by the Chief Minister, Kalita, who is on a two-day trip to the valley to campaign for Arun Dutta Mazumder and Rajdeep Goala, the Congress candidates for the Silchar and Lakhipur by-elections said that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi did not violate MCC norms since no new schemes were announced. The Chief Minister has only reminded the people of the existing schemes and assured that those will be implemented very soon. The allegations are only political, Kalita maintained.
Asked why is the party not involving former Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in the campaigns in the three-poll bound constituencies, the APCC president said the party has made a list of the leaders who would visit respective constituencies to address the voters. It is not necessary that every leader must come in all the constituencies, he said.
Speaking about the possibilities of victory, Kalita said with the way people are responding to the campaign, the picture is clear that they want Congress to speak for them in the Assembly and the trust will be converted into voting percentage on September 13. The Silchar candidate is more than competent and if voted to power he will serve the people to the best of his abilities. Similarly, the Lakhipur candidate is young and has a vision for his constituency, he maintained.
