The Hindu Business Line : Assam blasts freeze truck traffic

The Assam blasts are taking a toll on road transportation of goods to and from the North East. Guwahati is the gateway to almost all North Eastern States and with the city being devastated by the blasts, there has been no movement of goods’ vehicles in the past few days to Guwahati through the West Bengal-Assam border, through which passes the only road link to Assam. As a result, several thousand trucks are now stranded on both sides of the border. There are long qu eues of loaded trucks at two West Bengal towns bordering Assam, namely Srirampur in Jalpaiguri district and Baxirhat in Cooch Behar district. On an average, 1,000 loaded trucks enter Assam a day through these two towns. What is causing concern is that a large number of these vehicles are carrying perishables to the North East. Several hundred trucks, carrying coal, paraffin, tea and cane furniture, all produce of North Eastern region, too have been stopped. Inquiries with road transport companies suggest that they are in the dark about the probable resumption of the movement as several areas in Assam are under curfew. Fortunately, the rail movement, according to North Frontier Railway, has remained unaffected but the security has been stepped up. The air service between Kolkata and Guwahati was hit for a day, the day of the blast. It has since become normal.

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