“Breaking News” - Jorhat to Guwahati in 3 hours

 

@RriturajSharma

I love to travel. I mean who doesn’t? Seeing new places, trying out new cuisines, exploring unseen cultures excites everybody. I have been living in the UK for close to 10 years now and every time we go on a road trip, it has always been a pleasant experience. And I have done quite a few of them, especially to the highlands; from London to Edinburgh in Scotland which is a distance of approximately 700 kms. The feel when the tall high rises of London city gives way to the scenic beauty of the English countryside slowly making way to the undulating landscape, the gushing mountain streams of the Scottish terrains - it all reminds me of driving from Guwahati city through Khanapara and into the hills of Meghalaya. The feeling is truly exhilarating. 

Driving by road covering 700 kms distance of “valley” type territory is no mean task though. What makes it exciting is the fact that you know that once your foot is on the accelerator, it rarely needs to shift to the brake and your driving time in most cases is 7 hours flat. That is 1 hour required to cover every 100 kms. And by the way, that is legally the maximum speed limit you can drive in the UK. Take a break or two of an hour each and you are there at Edinburgh 9 hours from the time you started. Quite often when I drive on these roads, I keep thinking what it would be like to have the same kind of infrastructure back home. I did a reality check using my most trusted travel companion, Google Maps. And I found that driving from Digboi to Bongaigaon, a similar distance of 700 Kms will take me close to 14 hours. So is that what we are? A developing nation, expected to have roads that are forever developing? Why can’t we be as good, if not better, than the best roads of the world? Imagine the increase in productivity we can achieve as a nation if we can better our current state of roads. Imagine people’s delight at having such world class infrastructure in our own land that will truly physically bring people closer in today’s virtual era. 

Some of you must be wondering why the topic of this write up says Jorhat to Guwahati in 3 hours when I am talking about Edinburgh and Digboi and Bongaigaon. Let me come to that now. Jorhat has a special place in my heart to the extent of me having a personal bias. Whenever I go home to Assam with the family, I invariably take a road trip to Jorhat. This city has been my alma mater during graduation and post graduation, I learnt music in this city, I made the best of friends in this city and finally I am the son-in-law of this city. And I have been doing road trips to this place since 1990. It's been close to 30 years now. I have great memories of the night super journeys between Guwahati and Jorhat, the beautiful day drives through the dense forests of Kaziranga, the mellifluous voices of Jitul Sonowal and Zubeen Garg blaring away from the speakers of the 24/7 dhabas of Jakhalabandha, the Poori-Bhaji served on plantain leaves at Bokakhat, the sweet Peda and so many nostalgic thoughts that are still alive in this route. And along with these, the driving time is another constant that has remained the same between these two cities. It took six and half hours then and it takes six and half hours now, maybe more. This is despite the fact that we have much better cars in today’s world that would also make you ponder if the condition of the roads have improved or eroded. True, the time-distance between Guwahati and Nagaon has been significantly reduced due to the super highway and I have mentioned about this later in my article but this has also not been able to bring much improvement to the time required to reach Jorhat. 

With the hullabaloo around the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) temporarily getting stalled, maybe it is time for the current state government to sit up and introspect what are the prime activities that they need to focus on that will revive the trust of the people of Assam on them. Implementing a near accurate NRC is on top of that list, don’t have any doubt on that. Finding a working solution for Clause 5 of the Assam Accord is a logical action that will emanate from an accurate NRC. I say “working solution” for Clause 5 because by now every Assamese has realised that “deportation” of illegal migrants is improbable. And executing Clause 6 to its letter and spirit is of equal and significant importance too as that would probably close some of the loose ends left open by the inconclusive outcomes of Clause 5. But the present government will need to do much more and that too at substantial speed if they have to regain the trust and credence of the masses. This won’t be easy. But it won’t be tough either if they move swiftly and beyond the ordinary of routine politics. The biggest crisis, as I see it, that Assam is going through is that of leadership and political leadership at that. I, for instance, am not sure whom should I vote for in 2019 and 2021. Should I trust the AGP who has failed us twice and still hasn’t been able to showcase a strong leadership or should I give Congress yet another opportunity despite them being responsible for the current state of Assam in more ways than one? Or should I let the BJP have another go to prove themselves to the people of Assam? They maybe on the path to prove themselves for the rest of India but not yet for Assam. Agree, they have demonstrated more development than previous governments but it’s a mile too far from where they need to be. And the unanticipated confusion around CAB hasn’t helped their case at all. 

But again, all is not lost - not as yet. Road infrastructure is and should be one of their prime focus areas and they should showcase progress very quickly. Agree, land acquisition is in progress for widening of the highways. Agree, a total of 1,253 kms of roads in Assam will become National Highways. Agree, a budget of Rs 15,000 crores has also been allocated for the same. These numbers could be even bigger and higher. But the speed of work is what the people of Assam are keenly watching now. And when I talk about wide and fast highways, I am not impressed by the operational Guwahati-Nagaon stretch. True, the speed at which any vehicle can now travel has improved but the safety measures that need to be adopted when such highways are operational are literally missing. I have seen trucks being driven on the right side of the road. Bicycles and two-wheelers on the wrong side of the highway are a common sight. This is probably because there are no barricades that prevent people of the adjoining villages to enter this super fast highway and take shortcuts to their local destinations. This is also probably because there are no alternate routes/subways constructed for people to commute between one side of the super highway to the other and hence they are bound to take such short cuts. But this has and will continue to pose grave danger to intercity travellers. Driving may be fast but definitely not pleasant.

There is a saying in Hindi “Subah ka bhoola agar sham ko laut aaye to usse bhoola nahin kehte” essentially meaning when that someone makes a mistake and realizes it and wants to return and amend, he must be forgiven and welcomed. The situation the BJP is in at the moment is akin to this. Taking control of the reins of holistic progress will surely help the Sonowal government to renew their vows of jaati, maati and bheti and who knows, my dream of a drive from Jorhat to Guwahati - a distance of 300 Kms in 3 hours - might just be the Breaking News on your television screens in this lifetime itself. 

 

(The writer who describes himself as a ‘Passionatelyঅসমীয়া’ hails from Guwahati. He is an IT Consultant by profession, is a music composer and special correspondent for Pratidin Times in London. The views expressed in this article are his own)