Pedestrians negotiate a pot-holed Garbhanga Road

The timely arrival of the monsoon presents a mixed bag of apprehension and good news for Motibur Rahman and others like him, who live along Garbhanga Road. The condition of the virtually non-negotiable road worsens after the onslaught of the rain.

The 9.12-km-long Garbhanga Road, popularly known as the Lokhra Road, connects the business district of Paltan Bazar to Lokhra and is one of the important arterial routes of the city.

Daily commuters travelling from Paltan Bazar to Lokhra take an impossibly bumpy ride owing to the poor condition of the road.

Not too long ago, the PWD relaid the road but as a result of the piecemeal repairs done by the department, some portions of the road have turned into a veritable death trap.

The incomplete culverts at Pahartoli area and Lutma, with iron rods sticking out of the roads, pose a major threat to life and limb.

People in these localities fear to tread on the streets in their neighbourhood.

?We have seen that the culverts have been under construction for the past one year and till date it is nowhere near completion. Since the road suddenly becomes narrow at the two points due to these culverts, this may lead to a major accident anytime,? B.K. Palit, a resident of the Battalion Gate area, said.

Even though the government spent around Rs 4 crore on road repairs last year, a permanent solution seems to be elusive.

?We are happy that the government has bothered to repair the road but, at the same time, we are apprehensive about how long it would last,? said Gopal Karmakar, a businessman.

?The rains will further exacerbate the situation. After each downpour, clogged drains add to the woes of commuters,? he pointed out.

Karmakar pointed out that during rush hour the two incomplete culverts make the situation worse. The road has to take in an extra load as heavy vehicles are diverted from GS Road to avoid traffic congestion.

?Pedestrians are the worst sufferers. On the one hand, there is no pavement and on the other, all the heavy vehicles, including long-distance buses and trucks, are diverted through it,? Rekha Das, a housewife, complained.

A sense of hopelessness and resentment prevails among the residents of these localities where the roads have not seen any improvement for over a decade. Fed up with the apathy of the administration, residents had staged a series of protests, including roadblocks and even a mock funeral of the PWD. It was after this that the government undertook repair work. The agitation was spearheaded by Brihattar Dakshin Guwahati Unnayan Smannayarakshi Samity, a citizens? body. General secretary of the organisation Sanuj Choudhury, however, said their main grievance is yet to be addressed. We had launched our agitation for reconstruction and widening of the road, but this still appears to be a far cry,? Choudhury said.

He said though the government has repaired the road, it had left a dilapidated wooden bridge at Betkuchi untouched, which could spell danger for unsuspecting commuters.

PWD commissioner M. Dutta could not be contacted for his comment. But another official of the department, requesting anonymity, said things would improve as a proposal for four-laning of the road had been submitted to the Union department through the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) ministry. Funds to the tune of Rs 35 crore have been sought from the non-lapsable pool of resources for the project.

However, uncertainty continues to cloud the project as DoNER, instead of putting its seal of approval on the project has retained it for detailed examination.

Till the ambitious project chalked out by the PWD is approved by the DoNER, the only option before the people using this road is to keep their fingers crossed.