GUWAHATI: Over nine foot-over bridges are set to be operational in the coming months in Guwahati. Two are already up and running on GS Road at Christian Basti and Post Office Signal respectively. They have been constructed at Rs 10.06 crores and Rs 9.88 crores respectively.
The other two in the Dispur area, situated in the proximity of the Kar Bhawan and Vivanta by Taj, are set to be operational soon. Sources close to the Public Works Department (PWD) have revealed to G Plus that the foot-over bridges are expected to be operational from February 10. The construction of the escalator-assisted foot over bridges is set to be completed by February 9.
The final nod is awaited from the higher end by the Assam government. However, there is still no clarity as to when the remaining seven foot-over bridges that are currently under construction will become operational.
As per a highly placed source, the foot-over bridge at Pandu is awaiting the escalator to be installed and it is expected that the bridge will be ready as soon it arrives.
Sign of development?
The foot-over bridges are an attempt to solve pedestrian crossing, which has hindered the flow of traffic in different parts of the city. On paper, the idea is a conducive way to lower the threat of accidents as is done in Delhi and Mumbai.
However, residents have complained that the proposed escalators will reduce the motorable width of the GS Road, thereby causing more traffic problems. The cab operators are particularly worried over the situation given that commuting time is likely to get drastically reduced due to traffic congestions.
“We were used to heavy traffic jams on the GS Road but now things have become worse. Even if the escalators are constructed, this will still reduce the space of the road,” Ismail Ali, from All Assam Cab Operators’ Association had earlier said. He further stated that the congestion on GS Road has limited their number of trips daily and as such drivers avoid the area. Along with that, more combustion of fuel has increased the input costs for these operators.
G Plus spoke to Ajoy Dutta, Vice President of Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG), who highlighted that the "intent to make the bridges are appreciable but the execution has lacked planning."
He raised two major problems that might erupt over the course of time.
Firstly, the narrowing of the roads will be detrimental especially for the GS Road and the Pandu main road. "Already the parking spaces restrict the vehicular flow. In other metros, the crossing of such bridges is outside the main road. The government could have even acquired extra land to construct them," said Ajoy Dutta.
Secondly, he also raised the issue of maintenance of the bridges contrasting with other initiatives such as the electric crematorium that requires electricity and which fails to continue being operational.
The department responds to concerns
G Plus spoke to senior officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) who explained that the lack of space on the road is a wrong interpretation. GS Road is a two-lane road with width of 20/22 metres. The two lanes’ requirement of 7 metres each is still intact even after construction of the bridges, as per Dilip Hazarika, Superintending Engineer, PWD. "Our escalators will use about 4.2 metres and we have only utilised the parking space," added Hazarika.
On the issue of the self-sustenance of the foot-over bridge, a senior official from the department stated that the contractor will look after the overall maintenance of the foot-over bridges for the first year as per the contract. "After the tenure, we will think about how to proceed with the maintenance of the bridges thereby assigning it to GMC or GMDA accordingly," said the official.
This has raised an aura of ambiguity regarding the future of these foot-over bridges.
Is Guwahati smart enough to enjoy state-of-the-art infrastructure?
Spit stains were observed at the entrance of the newly constructed foot-over bridge at Christian Basti, GS Road within hours of the inauguration of the bridge. The bridge was inaugurated with much fanfare on Monday as a state-of-the-art infrastructure.
However, within hours the locals of the area highlighted spit stains at the entrance of the foot-over bridge. This surfaced despite the monitoring of a security guard at the foot-over bridge.
"It's good they have made such a construction. But, I hope alcoholics do not gather here late in the nights. Spit stains are still common, I hope they don't defecate here," AK Choudhury, a local resident, told G Plus.
Meanwhile, the chief contractor of the bridge, Anil Das, has requested the residents of the city to be conscious while using the services of the bridge.
The lack of civic sense has been an added headache for both the contractors and the PWD. "How can we stop people from spitting? We have devised a way by utilising the CCTV footage if necessary to catch the miscreants," Dilip Hazarika, Superintending Engineer told G Plus.
As evident from the aforementioned issue, the foot-over bridges are also utilised by miscreants and the homeless restricting the space for the pedestrians. The pedestrians choose not to utilise the spaces thereby creating further traffic jam. “In the Ulubari side, we have to deploy many traffic personnel to control the pedestrian traffic as they hardly use the old foot-over bridge,” said a traffic police personnel from Paltan Bazar PS.
This raises an important instance of history repeating itself: Will the new foot-over bridges meet the similar fate of the old ones or will they be maintained as per the intentions stated on paper?
