By: Kamal Baruah
What’s on your mind? “Guwahati flyovers are all lighted up for Durga Puja”. The recent post at social media by our own Patricia Mukhim, the Shillong Times Editor delighted us that I set down my thoughts in brief columns right away. No doubt the festival days in my cityare a spectacular affair. Besides it, the weather has been very pleasant in this autumn festival. People explore the festive fervor during Puja with great fanfare.
After the terrible monsoon season, the roads and bridges are now put in order and the light finally shine in the darkness. However, urban dwellers never thought that the city might aspire to the height of a smart city someday. Potholes repaired and most of the roads got a face-lift. Festivities don’t get stuck in a traffic jam. Probably, flyovers provide some respite from a stream of heavy traffic. City goers are full of praise for the administration to help seamless transportation and to make their city clean and tidy.
Surprisingly, no restrictions have been placed on the sale of liquor during the festival period. The district administration was widely criticized. Thus, Guwahati guzzles alcohol. There is absolutely no denying that drinking alcohol feels enthusiasts good at their moment. The sale really matters the state thereby looking for ways to rejuvenate the economy and Assam taxes liquor to help fill coffers. Yet consumers don’t mind paying for taxes and live life to the fullest.
Besides all that, the residents face an incredible tale of rapid urbanization, where settlements do not receive basic services, such as drinking water and sanitation, let alone the provision of adequate water supply, healthcare and food stamps are necessary to sustain a basic standard of living. Poor mobility and air pollution are some complex challenges faced by the city eco systems thereby jeopardized the urban public infrastructure and its services.
Traffic signs and road safety observed least concern on the road. Newly installed traffic light ITMS gives some discipline at intersection though it sees a high level of impatience among motorists, when it comes to complying with the red light.However traffic light violations and over speeding limit are on the rise due to absence of 3D radar-based over speed violation detection (OSVD) cameras and red light violation detection (RLVD) cameras.
Where is my city heading for? Where auto rickshaws refuse to use the fare meterand instead charge higher fares that is not based on the meter reading.Unruly city buses a bane of commuters on GS Road. The bus stops anywhere a commuter wishes to get in. Most bus waiting sheds are shabby and unsafe and turned into shelters for street dwellers and even occupied by vendors. Footpaths have been overrun and nobody cares.Traffic police are silent spectators for not reporting traffic chaos on the motorways.
Commuters face a nightmarish experience for public transport. Never wonder when one side of the Dighalipukhuri road blocked for traffic and turned into vending zones. People are unfazed over such chaos on the road. The roads are littered with food waste, exposing the commuters to unhygienic conditions as solid waste collection and transportation are not carried out in the wee hours of the day. Citizens’ concerns go unheard bythe municipality.
The traffic violations in my city committed by the most of the drivers pose a significant risk to road safety. The other day I drove over very cautiously facing reckless motorists on the new Zoo Road flyover, wherethey went overtaking the double solid line, which is assigned for a two lane road. Should the authority install some cameras to catch those traffic violators? So does to enforce laws for safety driving. The government must increase Traffic challan penalties for violators to promote responsible driving.
It appears, most of the Guwahati motorists are not aware of traffic signs and road markings. Aizawl has one of the most disciplined driving and becomes a silent city which hardly witnessed vehicle honking horns. Sikkim follows the odd-even system to reduce vehicle movement and improve traffic management in Gangtok. Also Shillong follows the Odd-even basis for issues of traffic congestion in the city’s busiest commercial areas.
Street lights are made for improved night visibility. Hilly areas of Shillong-Guwahati highways don’t oblige road lights. At least, it must get glow by the lines of photo luminescent covering naturally that charged by sunlight. Alas! They are not adequate rather a shedding light on my city roads too. But I saw my city lighted up over the flyovers and foot over bridges for beautification drive. Tree trunks and electrical posts are wrapped with outdoor lights. Outsiders may not find the real woes of Guwahati.The brightness made me blink that day. Beyond all limits, my city Guwahati lighted up once during DurgaPuja.
