GUWAHATI, June 5 - Long traffic jams in the city have become a regular affair. The area under the Ulubari flyover, being one of the busiest connecting spots, is cramped with vehicles from all directions. The peak hours are between 6-8 pm in the evening and sometimes even during the afternoon.
�At first, the reason for the congestion was the lack of traffic control. Now, that has been solved, but the volume of vehicles has increased manifold. Being late for work, fuel wastage and road rage due to stress are some of the problems that most of the people face on a daily basis here,� said Abu Taher, an MBA student.
Everybody is in a hurry to reach their destination and zooms past the other vehicles as soon as the traffic police give the signal. The two-wheelers, having an advantage of sliding in the gaps between the vehicles, end up blocking the way for other vehicles to pass, even as the four-wheelers have to wait in the long �never-ending� line.
Talking over phone and driving or making turns right in the middle of the road add to the prevailing traffic congestion.
Champak Medhi, who works in a Kolkata-based MNC, said, �I think the main reason for the traffic jam at that particular point is because it connects various routes.�
Karunamay Das, an employee of Das Medical, who witnesses such massive jams almost every day, said, �There�s no particular hour of the day when the street isn�t buzzing with vehicles. At times, the road remains congested even at 9 pm. The traffic police mainly control the jam under the flyover, at the intersecting point, only when the vehicles don�t seem to be moving at all.�
The problem can only be sorted out when the citizens cooperate and wait for the traffic police to give the signal and the men in uniform can do their duty of keeping the roads free for everyone to pass, said a pedestrian unwilling to be named.
