Guwahati, March 7 :     Militancy, and hooliganism have emerged as major barriers in implementing AIDS awareness programmes among truck drivers and cleaners along the highways of Assam. Director of Northeast Society for Promotion among Youth and Masses (NESPYM) Chiranjeeb Kakoty said the organisation?s ?Project Chalachal? ? a health programme for the highways funded by the department of international development of the British High Commission ? has suffered because of the presence of insurgents and hooligans along National Highway 31. The department of international development had decided to include the highways of Assam in their nationwide highway health project as it was reported that the truckers frequent a lot of brothels along the way to Northeast. Kakoty said a long stretch of the highway runs through areas where the militants hold sway. ?A health worker with a view to spread the message of HIV/AIDS, is often seen with suspicion in these areas,? the director said. The health workers distributed condoms and other informative material on the dreaded disease to truck drivers and their helpers, Kakoty said. They also provided counselling in the form of behaviour change communication, he added. The director said truck drivers were afraid to leave their vehicles behind on the highway to visit the health centres because of the hooligans. Kakoty said militant activity often hampered the flow of goods and traffic in the Northeast for days. ?In such cases, the truckers frequent brothels to while away the time,? he said. Another barrier preventing the success of the HIV/AIDS awareness programmes on the highways was the mental set up of some truckers regarding their sexual behaviour and orientation. ?Some truckers also believe that health workers were agents of law enforcement officials and hence refuse to communicate with them,? Kakoty said. The NESPYM director said unless there was a positive change in the scenario, the goal of health on the highway could not be achieved.