Tale if a shaking bamboo bridge in city!

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 7: Guwahati denizens and Dispur need to build bridges between them if they are to do away with shaking medieval bamboo bridges from the city, touted as Gateway to South East Asia.

The tale of the people staying at Ramchandra Boro Path at Datalpara in the Fatasil Ambari area in the city is something that reminds one of medieval India. As though development has stuck in a time warp in the area, the residents there have to use a bamboo bridge so as to reach their main thoroughfares. Located at the foothill, by-lane – Ramchandra Boro Path – gets washed away here and there after every spell of heavy shower. Red soil carried by rainwater from the hill flows over the by-lane, making it quite unfit for use by any civilized being bound for schools, colleges, offices and other vocations in the city. For school kids, the by-lane is a veritable deathtrap.

What is even more serious is that rainwater stagtes on the by-lane for days together as there is no escape route for water.  

What adds to the woes of the local residents is a stretch of the by-lane is a bog that has loose and swampy soil underneath. It is a floating biomass that may trap school kids and even adults. In order to get rid of it, the local residents have erected a bamboo bridge there. Wooden planks of the makeshift bridge are supported by bamboo posts. The bridge shakes when two or more people walk over it, so do those walking over it. The local people want the GMC filling the by-lane with earth being dug out while constructing drains elsewhere in the city so as to raise its height. They also want the government to make drains on either side of the by-lane so as not to allow rainwater to stagte there.