Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Traffic police personnel have little impact in Guwahati Metro and other urban areas in the state, which leads to traffic chaos caused by gross violations of traffic rules occurring right in front of traffic managers who often act as mute spectators.
A reality check gives a vivid picture of the negligence of traffic police personnel in performing their duty in Guwahati. The four-lane National Highway from Jalukbari to Khanapara is a busy road that faces frequent traffic snarls due to several crossings – at Basistha Chariali, Beharbari, Boragaon, Lokhara, etc. To make the traffic flow smooth, this four-lane highway was elevated with underpasses at these crossings. The elevated national highway has one-way service roads on either of its sides. Since the underpasses are at considerable distances, most of the vehicles chose to make shortcuts through one-way service roads by taking the wrong side. This practice leads to traffic snarling on the one-way service roads as vehicles confront each other from opposite directions. This traffic mess occurs due to the utter negligence of the police personnel on duty, who look at such situations like mere bystanders.
The traffic chaos that occurs under the Ganeshguri flyover and the Six Mile Flyover is a daily affair. The traffic managers of Guwahati Police lack a scientific solution to untangle the chaotic traffic and provide relief to road users. They only keep the traffic lights lit. And this measure on their part is too short to solve the traffic problems under these two flyovers where vehicles come from multiple directions. Even more strange is that the traffic police personnel doing their duty at these traffic points do very little to clear the messy snarls.
From 9 am to 12 noon, the stretch of the road from Hatigaon Chariali to Ganeshguri Point witnesses a honking vehicle lineup from nose to tail. However, this stretch of the road lacks the presence of any traffic police personnel to ensure smooth traffic flow. This stretch of the road comes under the Hatigaon Police Outpost and Dispur Police Station.
The number of vehicles is increasing almost every day in Guwahati, creating an imbalance between the number of vehicles and the capacity of the roads. Thus, traffic chaos is inevitable, but how long? Guwahati has little scope to construct new roads, besides expanding the existing ones. In such a situation, the traffic police must man every road in a skilled and active way. Unfortunately, such a system is missing in Guwahati. The picture is no different in other cities and towns in the state, like Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Silchar, Nagaon, Jorhat, etc. The onus of scientifically solving the burgeoning traffic chaos in the metropolitan city and other urban areas in the state lies with the government. Will it do the needful?
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