Village Councils oppose roadblock

Aizawl, Nov 27: The village councils, under the Aibawk rural development block, have opposed the Saikhamakawn Welfare Committee (SWC)-sponsored roadblock, beginning today, on the Aizawl-Lunglei road.

The village councils termed the roadblock as an ''act to make the people of the region starve, rather than an effort to have good roads.'' The SWC's roadblock commenced from today in protest against the alleged slow progression of the Valecha Engineering Limited regarding the World Bank-funded road project.

''We have been closely observing the work of the Valecha Engineering Limited. We have helped solve a number of problems faced by the contractors in order to accelerate the work, which we will continue,'' the Village Councils Association (VCA) said in a press statement here today.

''We are strongly against roadblocks by some organisations who are dissatisfied with the performance of the contractors,'' the statement added.

The VCA also criticised some organisations giving their own ''deadline'' to the contractors to complete the work.

It further informed all concerned to ignore any ''deadline'' without the approval of the Aibawk RD Block VC Welfare Association.

It also slammed the ''collection of donations'' from employees of the Valecha Engineering Ltd and warned that the names of donation-seekers would be publicised in future.

UNI