A waterlogged road at ward no. 4 of Dergaon town. – Photo: Dergaon Correspondent
Correspondent
DERGAON, April 7: The life of the residents of Dergaon town has become miserable for the lack of several basic needs.
The unscientific drainage system, faulty streetlights system, absence of proper municipality solid waste management, lack of public urinal, have affected the residents of the small town.
The town committee, with four wards formed in 1960, was upgraded to a municipality board with 10 wards in 2004. The present population of Dergaon town is over 31,000 comprising more than 4,500 households.
Due to the lack of proper plans of the earlier committees of the municipality board, the basic infrastructure of the town is now in a miserable state. From drainage to public toilet, streetlights to road connectivity, all are in bad conditions.
Though a master plan was framed, but due to unscientific diagram, the drainage system has become a problem. The flow of water in the drains is faulty due to which water comes out from the drain towards the road.
The water flow through the drain system has also been affected due to the ongoing four-lane construction programme. Talking to this correspondent, the secretary of Dergaon Nagarik Santha, Prasanta Madhab Bora, said that the present executive officer of Dergaon Municipality Board is not addressing the basic problems of the residents of the town. “Though we submitted a memorandum in this regard, the executive officer has not taken it seriously, rather he is busy in new construction of a building at Naren Sarmah memorial field,” he said.
However, the executive officer of Dergaon Municipality Board, Utpal Kumar Deka, said that he would look into the matter.
Streetlight: The streetlights are not functional as the APDCL authorities cut the power connection because the municipality board has not paid a huge amount of electricity bill. Only a few high mass lights at some selected points are currently functioning in the city.
Public urinal: The town lacks public urinal facilities for which the residents and the outsiders have to bear a lot of problem. Though two mobile toilets were donated by NRL to Dergaon municipality board, at present both the toilets are at the municipality board office.
Non-payment of salary: The employees of the Dergaon Municipality Board have not been receiving their salaries for the last few months for which they have to bear a lot of financial hardships.