Silchar, July 13: Residents of Nilambazar its and neighbouring villages today blocked the Nilambazar-Fakirabazar PWD road in Karimganj district, demanding repairs of a portion of the road near the market and improvement of the drainage system.

The residents blocked the road near Nilambazar market (around 72km from here and around 334km from Guwahati) around 7.15am.

They alleged that though the portion of the road near Nilambazar market was submerged, the PWD department had not taken any steps to clear the water.

South Karimganj MLA Aziz Ahmed Khan, Nilambazar police station officer-in-charge Alim Uddin Mazumder, Nilambazar circle officer Sudip Nath and a few others reached the spot around 12.30pm.

Khan assured the protesters that steps would be taken to solve the problem soon and the blockade was withdrawn around 1pm. He told The Telegraph that a rise in the water level of the Longai because of heavy rainfall recently led to a 300metre portion of the road being submerged. The Longai flows through the northern and southern parts of Karimganj district and a portion of Ratabari constituency.

He said around 90 per cent of the drainage work has been completed. However, workers could not resume work as water from the Longai has not receded yet. He assured the protesters that the work would begin immediately after the monsoon and said it would take 15-20 days to complete the drainage work.

The government released Rs 1.76 crore under the MGNREGA for the road this year.

State PWD, fisheries and excise minister Parimal Suklabaidya told The Telegraph this afternoon that inclement weather had halted the progress of work in different places of the valley and nothing much can be done about it.

He said the repair of the Nilambazar-Fakirabazar road would be done on a war footing after the monsoon.

Suklabaidya had laid the foundation stone for the road in January.

Rafique Uddin Choudhury, the executive engineer of the Karimganj PWD department, said repair of the 18km Nilambazar-Fakirabazar road was under way but the progress has been "very slow" because of rainfall. He said he had inspected the road last week and found that frequent showers were hampering the process. He hoped that the road work would be completed soon after the monsoon.