Residents repair the road on Sunday. Telegraph picture

Feb. 5: Residents of Shankarpur, driven by the belief that self-help is the best help, will turn 600 metres of a slushy, muddy road into a concrete one after their repeated appeals to improve it fell on deaf ears of the administration.

As the administration fell short of meeting their promises to repair the stretch, residents living in the area today carried spades and baskets and began work on the road.

The pucca road, once completed, will benefit about 2,000 residents of Shankarpur near Birubari and will incur an expenditure of about Rs 3 lakh which the affected people have collected as donations from locals.

The construction of the road under the initiative of Shankarpur Unnayan Samity will take at least two weeks.

The local residents will also construct side drains to put an end to years of inconvenience.

“We face more problems during the rainy season. Our children slip and suffer injuries while going to school. Moreover, people living here face problem while going downhill to work in the city. The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority had constructed the Birubari-Shankarpur road four years ago but this portion of the road was not touched. We had moved the administration and our local legislator several times but no one came forward to help us even during elections. So, we decided to build the road ourselves,” president of the samity Dilip Mahanta today told The Telegraph.

The samity is collecting donations ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 500 from residents, based on their economic condition.

“We are engaging labourers and at the same time local people are also helping in the process of renovation of the road. People living in the area have been paying their taxes to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) but the corporation has neglected our basic needs for a proper road and water supply. The GMC had set up a water supply plant and put up pipes in the area in 1969, but we get water supply once or twice a week. For the rest of the time, we have to carry water from Birubari down the hill,” Mahanta said.

Sources in GMDA said the portion of the road was not renovated as it was on the Shankarpur hills. But the residents argued saying they had been staying in the area for over 40 years and possessed eksonia patta (patta given for one year and renewed). “If they are against construction of a road on the hills, why did they construct a major portion of the road from Birubari-Shankarpur and stop work in this stretch midway?” he asked.

Bipul Das, businessman and a local resident, said: “We decided to join hands as no help came from the administration despite repeated requests and appeals.”