Footbridges: Loss of Taxpayers’ Money

PEDESTRIANS’ SAFETY IN CITY

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Crores spent to build four footbridges at strategic locations to enable pedestrians especially physically challenged and senior citizens to safely cross busy city roads. But these bridges now stand as testimonies of colossal loss of taxpayers’ money as most people avoid them to crossroads, risking their lives and posing problems for motorists.

A senior City Police official said barring the footbridge at Maligaon none of the other three bridges is being used by pedestrians. He said majority of pedestrians tell the police that the footbridges are not people friendly and thus they cannot use them.

“We cannot force the pedestrians to use the footbridges. The police have also realized that these bridges are not people friendly. The access steps in footbridges are steep and majority pedestrians find them difficult to cross,” the police official said, adding that pedestrians crossing roads pose major problems for motorists and the situation gets worse during rush hour.

State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while inaugurating two lifts at both ends of the footbridge in Maligaon in 2018, said similar facility would be installed in three other footbridges at Shukreshwar Temple, Lachit Nagar and Dispur to make it convenient for pedestrians to use the bridges.

“When we constructed the footbridges at Maligaon, Lachit Nagar and Shukreshwar Temple, we did not plan for women, children and the elderly. The access steps were steep. The one built by the PWD in Dispur also suffered the same fate,” Sarma who was then (2018) holding the portfolio of Guwahati Development Department, said.

A national bid process for installation of lifts at the footbridges on public-private partnership (PPP) basis was initiated. “But the process has come to a halt due to reasons unknown. There is severe space constraint at the present sites of footbridges to install lifts,” a source in Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority said.

Tridip Lahkar, a 70-year old resident of Christian Basti area said he finds it very tough to cross the busy G.S. Road. “The other day I tried to cross the footbridge at Dispur to safely cross the road to enter the Janata Bhawan. But steps are too steep and at this age it is simply impossible for me to cross such steps,” Lahkar said.

Lahkar is not alone. Majority of city residents are facing the same problem and thus leaving the footbridges to remain as testimonies of monumental loss of public money.

“In a metropolitan city like Guwahati, footbridges are necessitated for easing out traffic congestion, avoiding accidents at some vulnerable traffic points and the like. However, the few footbridges Guwahati has do not serve any such purposes. They rather serve the purposes of others who are nowhere seen among the target beneficiaries by the city planners. Thus it seems that by erecting a few footbridges in Guwahati the administration has hit the target set by it but missed the objectives, the very purposes for such installations,” Ataur Rahman Saikia, a retired PWD engineer said. He said footbridges are essential in a fast growing city like Guwahati for pedestrians’ safety and preventing road accidents.

The Guwahati Development Department has now plans to construct footbridges at the Guwahati Club point on GNB Road, Bora Service petrol pump point on GS Road, Gopal Boro Government Higher Secondary School point on RP Road, Sarowgi petrol pump point at Dispur, Silpukhuri to Nabagraha Road point, DC office point on MG Road, LIC office point in Fancy Bazar to the Brahmaputra bank, Maligaon Chariali, Adabari bus stop point, Anuradha cinema to Bamunimaidam Railway Colony, Betola Tiniali and Basistha Chariali.

City residents have, however, ridiculed Dispur’s plans to construct more footbridges and warned not to waste anymore taxpayers’ money. “Let Dispur first make the existing bridges user friendly for pedestrians. Do not waste our hard earned money that we have paid to the government as tax for development of the city,” Ranjan Lal Das, a resident of Pan Bazar said.

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