TURA: Members of the All Garo Hills Construction Material Suppliers and Workers Association have urged upon the state government to set up a foolproof mechanism to check the movement of trucks carrying boulders from Bhutan for supply to Bangladesh through the Garo Hills roads.
The association complained that the boulders laden trucks from the Himalayan kingdom entering Garo Hills from Paikan in Assam are carrying loads beyond the permissible limits, creating traffic chaos while passing through Tura and Dalu border town and encouraging illegal extortion as several groups are collecting tax from these truckers all along the route.
Recently, two Garo organisations, Association for Democracy and Empowerment (ADE) and A’chik Holistic Awakening Movement (AHAM), accused one other of extorting from the Bhutan truckers leading to filing of police complaints.
The suppliers association has also alleged that the Transport check gate of the state government at Duragre is illegally collecting a whooping Rs 3000 from each truck as it enters Tura while another Rs 500 is being taken by officials from the Land Customs Station on the international border with Bangladesh at Dalu town.
Meanwhile, questions are being raised by citizens of Tura as to why heavy goods laden trucks are being allowed to enter and pass through the town en route to the border station.
“Why are authorities allowing such heavy trucks to enter when they could have easily used the Goalpara-Agia route to enter via Tikrikilla and head to the border,” questioned citizens of Tura.
There are concerns that the daily movement of such heavy loads through Tura will lead to severe damage of the roads in and around Tura.