Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Guwahati in 2006 vis-a-vis 2005

My first post was probably an article named ‘Natun Guwahati’ writing about the changing landscape of Guwahati in 2004. Well, for those who belongs to Guwahati and who are not been lucky enough to visit the place in last few months here are some updates. 3 new flyovers are being constructed – at Bhangagarh and Six Mile on the GS Road and at Basistha Chariali at NH Bypass. Fortunately the contracts are supposed to have been awarded to reputed builders (not to sulfas). Work has already started at Bhangagarh and Six Mile. In fact the Bhangarah chariali is witnessing a steady traffic jam in the busy hours. The vehicular traffic has really burgeoned in Guwahati. The GS Road, which looked so wide once, has now started appearing congested. The registration numbers in Guwahati has almost exhausted AS-01-Z series. People had started guessing as to what will be next --- will be AS-01A-A or will be it AS-01-AA?

But the major change I had observed was the widening of the GNB Road. I went to Goswami Service to attend the Blogger’s Meet at TRAFFIK. I was surprised to find a real wide road that is almost twice that of the old road. This has been a real bottleneck and it is good that this has finally been widened.

On my way to Nagaon, I could also see that the work on four laning of highways linking all state capitals of NE states had started. Reputed construction companies like Madhucon Projects had started working. But the sad part of this is that all the age old trees along the highways are getting cut. This will have a huge impact on the environment. The classic view of driving through canopies of trees will be a thing of the past soon. Even if new trees are planted it will take another 15 / 20 years to grow and provide a green cover. Anyway, changes that happen for a better future should always be welcomed.

Himanta Bishwa Sharma is now the minister handling GMDA. Taking cue from Delhi, he has also started action against illegal constructions in Guwahati. The list has almost all well known buildings in Guwahati. The real intent of this drive is not known as I am certain that he certainly is not a philanthropist. But it is required in some cases. It is easy to understand the corruption and malpractices of GMDA / GMC as all procedures were thrown out of window in granting permission to these constructions, many of which do not even have parking facilities and visitors to these buldings create traffic jams.

So guys lets hope to see a better Guwahati next time you visit.

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