The forum, which is an umbrella organization of as many as 52 NGOs of Cachar district, started the blockade at 5am on Wednesday at Sonai Road point in Silchar. Hundreds of protesters set up barricades on the highway, preventing all kinds of vehicles from moving along the important connector. The agitators were shouting slogans against the Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) and the Assam government for their inaction in repairing the roads.
Mizoram and large parts of southern Assam were cut off from the rest of the country for more than 12 hours because of the agitation. Hundreds of trucks, buses and other vehicles were stranded on either side of the blockade site. Passengers from far-flung areas were the most harassed.
Bahar Uddin Barbhuiya, convener of the All Barak Youths Students Association (ABYSA), a constituent of the forum, said throughout the day no authorities, either from the Cachar district administration or the BRTF, felt it necessary to come and take stock of the situation and hear out the agitators. He said only in the evening an additional deputy commissioner, a sub-divisional officer and a PWD executive engineer reached the place and requested the protesters to call off the blockade. The agitators withdrew the blockade following a long meeting and a heated discussion with the authorities, but only after the officials gave their word in writing that the repair work for the highway and other roads would be started immediately.