Traffic Congestion: Number of Vehicles Registered in Guwahati Almost Equal to Population

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: There are quite a few problems which plague Assam’s capital city, one of them being traffic congestion. Guwahati’s worsening traffic situation can be attributed to the fact that the number of vehicles registered is almost equal to the population of the city. However, there has been no expansion of the roads in the city to support the growing number of vehicles. As a result, the existing roads are overcrowded with vehicles.

According to estimates, Guwahati’s population in the first half of 2023 was 13.25 lakh. On the other hand, around 13 lakh vehicles have been registered in the city so far. These include 3 lakh four-wheelers, 6 lakh two-wheelers while other vehicles comprise the remaining. On average, there has been an increase of 4,000-5,000 new vehicles registered every year during the last 10 years.

Besides the increase in vehicle registration, thousands of vehicles from neighbouring states, especially Meghalaya and Nagaland, ply on the roads of Guwahati every day. As per figures, in 2004, around 11,000 two-wheelers were plying on the roads of the city. This number is expected to rise to 67,000 in 2025. Similarly, in 2004, the number of private vehicles in the city was around 15,500. This number is also expected to increase to 67,000 in 2025. According to another report, about 18% population of Guwahati walk while going from one place to another in the city while 45% use vehicles for daily commuting, 30% use public transport and 7% use bicycles and other means.

There are four main roads in Guwahati– the GS Road, Zoo Road, GNB Road and Silpukhuri Road. These roads have not been expanded. Guwahati is an unplanned city. There is paucity of land in the city to take up road expansion projects. To mitigate the traffic problem in the city, the government is constructing flyovers. But in many cases, these flyovers have only complicated the traffic situation. The traffic congestion in the Sixmile and Ganeshguri areas despite the construction of flyovers is a point in case.

Sources said that the existing main roads in the city cannot be expanded because the land by the sides of these roads is patta land. The patta holders refuse to give away their land for road expansion and for the government too this is not a feasible option as it will have to pay a high amount of compensation to these patta holders. Sources further said that the construction of new roads is also not possible because of the unplanned growth in the city.

Assistant Transport Commissioner Gautam Das, while talking to The Sentinel, said, “It is not just the main roads but the city must also be expanded till Palasbari or Sonapur. This will help in traffic management through proper planning.”

With rapid growth of the city’s population, houses, residential complexes and commercial establishments are coming up in an unplanned manner. There is paucity of parking space in the city. Vehicles are parked on the roadside, which further worsens the traffic situation. The authorities concerned have built a multi-level car parking lot in Zoo Road but due to its inconvenient location, people hardly use this parking lot to park their vehicles.

As the city’s population continues to grow and the rate of registration of new vehicles also continues to increase, the authorities concerned must come up with a robust traffic management plan or navigating through the traffic in the city will become a more harrowing experience than now.

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