Pedestrians in peril, Guwahati’s footpaths & road safety in shambles

Guwahati, April 19: Assam Government should spare a thought for pedestrians in cities and towns as vast majority of people in the State do not have their own vehicles and they have to walk from one place to another.

In Guwahati city, pedestrians have to risk their limbs and lives while walking on the footpaths and most of those are in a bad shape. The footpaths on the busy MRD road are broken for construction works of the new overbridge as the light posts are being shifted.

But no one thought about the plight of the pedestrians while doing so. People have to walk on the main road and there is every risk of getting hit by speeding vehicles. Moreover, the portions of the footpaths, which are broken, are not properly blocked and they can be death traps after sunset.

This is just one example. In most places of the city, the footpaths are uneven and some have developed cracks, which is very dangerous for the pedestrians. One has to keep a close eye on the footpaths of the city while walking and it is even more difficult after sunset. The situation aggravates during the rainy season as footpaths are often submerged and people have to risk their lives while walking on footpaths.

A few years back, a journalist of The Assam Tribune fell into an open manhole in such a situation. Luckily for him, the passers-by pulled him out on time to save his life.

The manholes of the footpaths are often opened to clean the drains. This is, no doubt, a positive step. But there are occasions when cleaners do not clean the manholes after cleaning the drains, leaving death traps on the footpaths.

In some places, the footpaths are occupied by small traders and pedestrians have to walk on the main road at the risk of getting hit by vehicles. The Government should earmark special zones for the small traders to keep the footpaths free for pedestrians.

Lack of streetlights on the lanes and bye-lanes is another major issue for the pedestrians as most of the smaller roads of the city are quite uneven. Even the speed breakers are not even. Different lanes and bye-lanes have speed breakers of different shapes and sizes. That is why, pedestrians have a harrowing time while walking on such lanes where there is no streetlight.

Crossing roads in Guwahati is another major challenge faced by the pedestrians and one has to be very fit to cross the roads unscathed. Most roads of the city do not have zebra crossings and even in the places where there are zebra crossings, most drivers keep the vehicles right on top of the crossing markers, leaving very little space for the pedestrians to walk through.

In other places, it is a life and death question and it is nearly impossible for unfit persons, old people and even women to cross the roads. In some main roads of the city including the busy GS Road, the authorities have put signal lights, which is a good thing. But the time given for the pedestrians to cross the roads is very less. For example, the GS Road is quite wide and only a few seconds are given for the pedestrians to cross the road.

Government should take note of these issues and put adequate number of zebra crossings on the busy roads and adequate time should be given to the pedestrians to cross the roads. Though a few foot overbridges have been constructed on the GS Road, the distance between those are too long. However, these are definitely helpful and more foot overbridges should come up on the busy roads of the city.