Pot-holed Highways

The recent wave of floods and heavy rains has not only caused widespread devastation in Assam’s countryside but has also left the state’s highways in horrible condition. About the Jorhat-Dibrugarh stretch of the National Highway, the less said is better. While most of the four-lane highways whose construction started simultaneously across the country have been completed several years ago, it is a great and unresolved mystery that the Jorhat-Dibrugarh portion of the National Highway has continued to remain incomplete. It was only recently that Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, shared a video showing the poor state of the incomplete highway portion. The delay in the construction work has led to frequent mishaps and turned it into a deathtrap for commuters. Even when one looks at the National Highway stretch between Guwahati and Nagaon, one finds that it has become full of potholes and uneven patches at several places, causing serious inconvenience to commuters. No wonder people are raising objections to the collection of highway tolls at Raha and Sonapur for a broken and potholed road. It was only about four weeks ago that Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari stated that highway agencies should not charge tolls if roads are not in good condition, emphasising that poor road quality and prolonged wait times at toll plazas are unacceptable. Gadkari is also on record, underscoring the necessity for highway agencies to provide efficient services before collecting toll fees. The Union minister had also said that a toll should not be charged if the agencies cannot provide good services. He is absolutely right when he says that the National Highway authorities are in a hurry to start tolling to collect user fees rather than providing good roads.