File Image | AT Photo
Baihata Chariali, July 30: The residents of the Baihata Chariali area have been facing a lot of problems every day while passing through the main Chariali Chowk due to regular traffic jams for the past couple years.
Being a junction of the National Highway (MH)-31, NH-15, and the busy Chariali-Ramgaon-Nagrijuli (Goreswar Road) PWD road, Baihata Chariali has become a transit point for a large section of the commuters of the state. Different types of vehicles, including public buses, stop here for varying durations. Therefore, a well-planned traffic management system is essential to ensuring smooth surface communication here.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of a proper traffic control arrangement, traffic jams have become a perennial problem here for the public and commuters alike. There is a traffic signal point here, but its condition is very pitiable, as its roof was blown away years ago. It is not suitable at all for normal control of traffic, especially during the rainy season.
In general, commercial vehicles should park at a reasonable distance away from the traffic signal point, but it is seen that a number of commercial vehicles, including e-rickshaws, park in the vicinity of the traffic signal point in a mood of competition over who could get passengers first! As a result, the traffic policemen on duty invariably fail to prevent traffic jams from taking place.
This scene is a common phenomenon on the Goreswar road from morning till evening because the stretch of road from the traffic signal point to Pub Kamrup College is comparatively narrower compared to other roads in the township.
A number of local residents alleged that the major causes of traffic jams on the Goreswar road include indiscipline parking of small vehicles on either side of the road, the setting up of shops and kiosks on the main road covering the footpaths, and the manpower shortage of the traffic police to manage the flow of vehicles.
Some other socially conscious citizens here said that earlier they came across a number of officers in charge serving at the Baihata Chariali Police Station who organised community liaison group (CLG) meetings with a view to discussing such types of issues and evolving solutions with the cooperation of the public and social organisations. However, such discussions to find pragmatic solutions are not being held now, they said. Though the SDO of Rangiya took an initiative to mitigate the problem of traffic jams a year ago, it also failed to prove fruitful.
An urgent solution to this problem has become the need of the hour, because in August, schools, colleges, and other educational institutes will open after the summer vacation. If the authorities concerned do not take the proper initiative to resolve this problem, then students, pedestrians, and vehicular traffic will continue to be adversely affected.
-By Gautam Kumar Deka