STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The lack of proper and efficient public transportation has given rise to several smaller modes of transport across Guwahati. One of them is the large number of e-rickshaws travelling through the minor streets as well as the major roads of the city. What once started as a boon for the people in the smaller localities without direct connectivity to the major roads has now become a menace for major parts of the city.
With the excessive growth in the number of these vehicles, they create massive traffic congestion in several localities of the city. Some of them include Jayanagar, Ganeshguri, Patharquarry, Shantipur, Beltola, Fatasil, and several other localities. The lack of proper steps to keep these vehicles in line has led to problems for a large number of people.
With the transport department unable to regulate their movement, not only do these vehicles park without any civic sense, blocking one or more lanes of traffic, but they also come to abrupt stops at different places, causing problems for two- and four-wheelers coming from behind as well as those on the opposite lane. Such activities often lead to accidents in the city, endangering both the passengers aboard these vehicles as well as those on others, even on the major roads of the city.
Another related problem is the plying of rickshaws retrofitted with small electric motors. With the lack of any safety measures whatsoever, these vehicles often hinder the regular flow of traffic on the streets of the city. Although the Guwahati Municipal Corporation had once announced that proper action would be taken against these retrofitted rickshaws, no concrete steps were visible in the city.
As the citizens raise concerns by reading these problems to the authorities, it remains to be seen if the transport department or the traffic police can control the menace of such vehicles.
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