Tale of a soggy and potholed by-lane!

THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

People of Bhaskar gar appeal to Ward Councilor and local MLA, no positive response as yet

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 11: Life in Bhaskar gar No. 1 soggy and potholed by-lane in Guwahati is all wet! The by-lane has gone to wrack and ruin for want of proper upkeep.

This by-lane starts from RG Barauh Road and goes ahead without any turn a long distance. It takes a turn at its end that starts the beginning of Bhaskar gar No. 2 by-lane. The second by-land meets RG Baruah Road again. This long stretch comprising the two by-lanes starts from RG Baruah and ends to it forming big ‘U’ covering the vast and thickly populated Bhaskar gar area in the city.

Bhaskar gar No. 1 by-lane was constructed by the State PWD some ten years ago. There has been no repair in true sense of the term since then. What the department does sometimes in the me of repair is filling the potholes with sand and stone chips only to get them washed away by rain water. The by-lane remains wet round the clock during the monsoon. The condition is more than pathetic for there are no drains that are wide and deep enough to carry rain water away. As though to add to woes, some residents have encroached upon the drains and erected fence walls on them. Since there is no escape route for water, the by-lanes remains soggy round the clock during the monsoon. The probable condition of the by-lane when there is heavy shower in the city is not far to seek.

In a city like Guwahati leaving a road or by-lane without repair for ten years is something beyond permissible limit, if civic sense is anything to go by. First, the soil texture of Guwahati does not allow a road or by-lane to be in shape for such a long period. Given the situation of water-logging in the city, the longevity of any road infrastructure is bound to be too short.

The by-lane is a busy one. A large number of students going to Bhaskar High School, students of Assam Engineering Institute of Chandmari staying on rent in the area and other institutions have to use this by-lane. This is not all. There are a number of business establishments on either side of the by-lanes, besides the thickly-inhabited population in the area. Thus one can guess the vehicular traffic which the by-lane has to face daily. Wear and tear is very fast on the by-lane.

The tax-paying residents have no way out to knock the door of their ward councilor and the local MLA. They appealed to the Ward No. 41 councilor Shashanka Deka and East Guwahati MLA Siddhartha Bhattchryee for repair of the road, but to no avail as yet.

As seen in most of the highways and byways in Guwahati people living by the sides of No. 1 Bhaskar gar by-lane have all along been victims of lack of upkeep of road infrastructure by the State PWD. It seems the department needs to go for repair or reconstruction of roads in true sense of the term instead of going for repeated makeshift or stopgap measures, spending crores of rupees in the city. Will it? The change as promised by the BJP is still to be reflected in each and every by-lane in the city, let alone elsewhere in the State.