Guwahati: Even though several initiatives are being taken by the transport department and the traffic branch in Guwahati to ease the traffic, lane violations and wrong-way traffic still seem to be a major concern.
While the state transport department in April 2022 announced that any person found driving on the wrong side of the road would have to face a fine of Rs 5000 but this never was implemented in reality.
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Apart from the penalty of up to Rs. 5000, a 6-month jail sentence was also mentioned to be there by the transport department.
The Assam Transport Department in a tweet said, “Driving a vehicle on the wrong side of the lane shall invite penalty up to Rs. 5000/- or imprisonment for a period of 6 months.”
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The initiative remained to be just a random tweet with no implementation as several continued to violate the rules in the city. What turns out to be more shocking is the fact that the violations are usually on some of the busiest roads.
People can be seen taking the wrong way just in front of the Minister’s colony which happens to be a high-security zone as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma himself lives in the colony. Another site is under the Ganeshguri flyover where people coming out of the Hengerabari Road would simply head towards the opposite side even if there are police personnel standing.
It is not just civilians, many times, police vehicles can be seen breaking the rules.
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Other locations include Rukmingaon to the Downtown point, ABC point and Bhangagarh-GMC road.
An Official said that while the tweet or the direction was issued, there is not enough resources to monitor the movement of each vehicle. The official said that most of the time, drives are being carried against people not wearing helmets or seat belts.
The people moving on the wrong way usually put their lives as well as others on the roads but there is no awareness, the official said.
Another said that the matter is being discussed but the implementation might take some time.
A citizen said that the government departments are not sure what they are doing. “All they need is money and so they are only looking for people without helmets or seat belts. Most of the traffic officials deployed in the city are not even aware of the rules themselves”, he added.