Fourteen years after the police outpost was closed down more than 10,000 residents of a village in Assam's Bongaigaon district are demanding it be reopened as the nearest police station is about 10 km away.

The police outpost in Nayagaon was shut down because of regular attacks from insurgents and ULFA cadres in the last decade.

Lying isolated in a dilapidated condition with cobwebs all around, the two lock-ups have never seen a culprit being taken into custody in recent years.

Retired army officer Zahidul Islam has taken up the cudgel to unite the villagers and voice the demand for making the police outpost operational once again.

"There was a time when there was lot of threats in the area and there was a police station too but now there is not even an outpost. There is no insurgency now but there are issues like gambling and other crimes for which we need a security system," he said.

The villagers have to travel more than 10 km for any small problem or to register a case in the Manikpur subdivision where agriculture and small business is the mainstay of the economy.

Assam Police however blames it to a major manpower crisis. Senior police officials say starting or reopening an outpost will mean more deployment.

The villagers are telling their decade-old story again and again in the hope that someone in the government will hear them out.

(Reporting by Vikash Sharma in Bongaigaon, Assam)