Letters to the Editor: Drudgery of city bus journey

Local journeys by city bus in Guwahati have become quite time-consuming. The insufficient road connectivity coupled with ongoing construction works of new flyovers in the city has choked the normal movement of city buses. The public has no clue when the new projects that were undertaken will be completed due to a lack of public notice by the authorities about the period and timely completion of the work. The commuters are, therefore, helpless amid inordinate delay and uncertainty. Aside from this, there are other unusual times wasting for the commuters on the roads.

The foot overbridge at Fancy Bazar was opened was inaugurated on February 1, in the presence of a host of dignitaries including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Urban Development Minister. We had to wait for extra thirty minutes due to traffic jam enforced for that function. In the present travails of local journeys inside Guwahati, our leaders have not done extra efforts for publicity for holding the ceremony on roads which cause unanticipated delay and pain to the commuting public.

Thousands of commuters also come daily from suburban and far-flung areas for a day's work in Guwahati and return home. The time card system was promised by the concerned authority at the time of the last revision of city bus fares effective from October 2022 which is yet to be implemented. The city bus drivers and conductors do not abide by any schedule and waste commuters' time by spending extra stoppage at the stop. Through this column, I draw the attention of the authority to immediately introduce the time card system and strictly enforce waiting time at the bus stop.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati

Cigarette tax may have positive outcome

Thanks to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Budget 2023-24 has seen a hike in taxes on cigarettes by 16% after persistent demand from sections of the society for a higher tax burden on tobacco products. For a long, tobacco has been one of the leading causes of death in India. As per the WHO, tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year and more than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use, while around 1.2 million happen when non-smokers are exposed to smoking indirectly.

Many new reports suggest that tobacco's indirect and hidden promotion is also contributing to the silent epidemic. The current tax hike on cigarettes will not only help the central government to generate more revenue but at the same time will enable curb tobacco use to a large extent. Also, catchy slogans like, 'Quitters always win – winners always quit] and 'Desist from running the white train in your lips' can help in the fight against cigarette smoking.

Ranganathan Sivakumar

Chennai