GUWAHATI, May 11 � Whimsical raising of road levels and footpaths during repairing or resurfacing has been a perennial bane plaguing the city�s development process.
In the latest such instance, residents of the Taiyabullah Road along the eastern boundary of the Dighalipukhuri questioned the ongoing whimsical raising of the footpath which was causing serious inconvenience to them. Among the worst affected have been the old buildings of the locality.
�Raising of road levels amounts to violation of urban planning norms. Besides, this practice also causes devaluation of the citizens� hard-earned property � a constitutional right under Article 300-A of the Constitution. Then, common sense dictates that even if the footpath is raised, the height of the small stretch in front of the gates of old houses be kept parallel to the existing height of the gate-plinth. But this is not being done. I have been forced to confine myself to my home as the entrance to my house has been raised by a large margin, blocking the gate,� Ashok Medhi, a senior citizen who owns one of the oldest campuses in the area said.
Medhi said that raising of the road and the footpath was causing not just serious inconvenience and huge economic losses for the residents but it would also complicate further civic problems such as water-logging, dampness of the soil, unhygienic living conditions, etc.
Medhi said that the construction of the footpath was not even maintaining the proper gradient. �The road has a noticeable downward slope towards the south but the footpath does not have the matching gradient, preventing it from having a uniform height along the entire length of the road,� he said.
Another adverse fallout of this phenomenon has been the abnormal rise effected in the plinths of all newly-built houses for �protecting� one�s house from rising road levels. This is despite the fact that there are norms concerning height of plinths.
�This is a case of one violation leading to another violation. All modern cities follow strict rules and regulations concerning road level and plinth level but our State capital Guwahati persists with its flouting of civic norms for reasons best known to departments like Guwahati Development, PWD and agencies like GMC and GMDA,� another resident said.
Residents of Taiyabullah Road are not alone in suffering from whimsical functioning of the civic authorities. In fact, all the roads of the city have witnessed abnormal rises due to this persisting illegality followed by the authorities.
The connecting road from Pub-Sarumatoria to VIP Road which was resurfaced in November last year has seen its level rising to such an extent that now most of the plots alongside the road have �sunk� well below the newly-laid road.
�This is particularly a matter of concern as the locality was one of the worst sufferers during last year�s artificial flooding of the city. Locals are now concerned that this time the flood situation will worsen as most of the houses along the road are going to be at a level much below that of the road,� Pranjal Bhuyan, a local resident said.
Besides, the area has another disadvantage as normal flow of rainwater to the Silsako Beel is hindered due to encroachment on both sides of the VIP Road � on the channels connecting the wetland as well as the on the wetland itself.
