82 │ │ July 2019
end note
Editor
Waging a daily battle
Managing traffic is one of the
most emerging challenges that
is confronting urban pockets
of the Northeast today. It has
been a constant headache for the
capital cities and now making its
presence felt in most of the smaller
towns also. And to mitigate
this ever-increasing problem,
new blueprints are drawn,
declared with much fanfare, get
implemented, shows results for a
few weeks or months, but then it’s
back to square one again.
Although it may sound
unbelievable, it is a fact that most
cities of the developed world,
including those dotting both sides
of the Atlantic are also beleaguered
with the same problem. Urban
planners have racked their brains
to find solutions, but no metropolis
has achieved a ‘total congestion-
free’ tag as of now. For India, it
is more severe since growth of
most cities & towns, big or small
had always treaded an unplanned
path, with no anticipated plans for
the future hassles. The country
has the second largest roadnetwork in the world with a total
stretch of more than 5.4 million
km network and is also witnessing
unprecedented urbanization
and population rise. If highrises
kissing the skyline are symbolic of
the financial strength of a state or
region, a glance down has always
a different story to narrate. It’s a
cocktail of traffic rules violations,
heated altercations between traffic
personnel and offenders, long
hours of traffic jams and test of
patience for all stuck in the melee.
If time is money, it is really mind-
boggling if one calculates how
much time the nation wastes due
to traffic blues. It is estimated
that traffic congestion costs `1.47
lakh crore per annum for India
on an average. This is besides
the associate negative health
implications which manifests
through the rise in blood pressure,
tension, anxiety and those resulted
due to prolonged pollution
exposure.
Among the scores of views
that try to explain this ‘point of
no return’ situation, the mostaccepted one is the rise and rise of
the middle-class population with
solid purchasing power, nurturing
the dream of possessing a vehicle,
either two-wheeler of four-wheeler
exerting huge pressure on the
roads which are sadly showing
little or no signs of increase. And
the situation only aggravates when
a huge percentage of industrial
transport is still carried out
through roads making it extremely
tough to ensure the quality.
For Northeast, the challenge
is tougher since topography here
is rough and maintaining the
existing roads is as challenging
as laying new ones. Only a
multi-pronged approach with
an amalgamation of technology
driven futuristic solutions and
wholehearted obligatory support
of the citizens can usher some
hope.
It’s a daily war, only to be fought
by people and administration
together.Photo: UB photos