Letters to the Editor: Need of an over-bridge at Rani Gate

Need of an over-bridge at Rani Gate

The Azara railway station is situated in the West Guwahti constituency, and is one of the busiest stations in the Guwahati Metro. The frequency of private and public carriers including loaded and unloaded trucks plying to the station have marginally increased as the station has been upgraded to a passenger cum cargo station. Rani Gate railway crossing is the sole entry and exit point to the station. Day after day, the railway gate has converted into an awful bottleneck for travelers due to frequent gate closing. It is mentionable that Rani Gate is situated on the en-route to the Guwahati airport, Shillong (Meghalaya), Accoland park, and BSF HQ, and the area is emerging as an industrial hub. Therefore, uncountable commuters as well as vehicles pass through the Rani Gate railway crossing every day. Due to the frequent movement of passenger and cargo trains through this route, the rail gate remains closed several times in a day. Like adding insult to injury, the frequent shunting of cargo trains extend the rail gate closing time, and as a result, horrible traffic jam on the narrow road makes a chaotic situation on both sides of the railway crossing. The Commuters are forced to wait for a long time to cross the railway gate. Ambulances stand in the queue, and even pedestrians feel unsafe crossing the railway gate with their kids. Through your esteemed paper, I wish to draw the kind attention of competent authority to sanction a railway over-bridge at Rani Gate railway crossing to avoid any unfortunate accident vis-a-vis to save valuable time of commuters. People of the greater Rani Gate area would heave a great sigh of relief if such a project comes into effect. The over-bridge is really a need of the hour for the travelers passing through Rani gate railway crossing.

Mintu Sarma

(sarmamintu9@gmail.com)