JORHAT, May 15: Despite a large number of accidents taking place on the important Jorhat-Mariani Road, the government has taken no steps to broaden it or make it less accident prone.
The death of an LIC employee on Wednesday in an accident and the subsequent mob fury and police brutalities, brought to the fore once again the accident-prone nature of this narrow road, which has been constantly neglected.
The Jorhat-Mariani Road better known as the Gar-Ali connects the commercial hub of Jorhat at one end and the Mariani Railway Station at the other and then moves on to Mokokchung in Nagaland, forming an important trade route. The route, however, is bound on one side by the railway track and has a number of educational institutes, offices including the LIC Divisional Office, a couple of petrol pumps, a number of godowns of FCI (Food Corporation of India) and the District Transport Office on the other.
Various kinds of vehicles standing in front of the DTO’s office and educational institutions to pick up and drop the students further narrow-down this stretch but, the greatest chaos is caused by trucks which makes a mad rush to unload commodities brought by the goods trains for the FCI godowns, of which there are four on the stretch between Gar-Ali Market and Cinnamara. These trucks rush at a great speed to meet the goods trains so that they can make a number of trips, not bothering about other vehicles in their way. This year seven accidents have already taken place, despite the weighbridge being removed from the area. Last year, an eight-year-old girl– Salima Khatoon lost her life in a similar accident while she was going to school. A sustained campaign by Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad cadres resulted in the removal of the weighbridge in front of which trucks were parked for about a kilometre and further hemmed the road. Although proposals had been made time and again to broaden the stretch and another smaller road had been proposed to be built on the other side of the railway track so that people residing on the other side or working in offices located there need not cross over the track to come to the road, nothing has been done till date. It may be mentioned that, about five people have also been run down by trains while crossing the railway track. THE SENTINEL
The death of an LIC employee on Wednesday in an accident and the subsequent mob fury and police brutalities, brought to the fore once again the accident-prone nature of this narrow road, which has been constantly neglected.
The Jorhat-Mariani Road better known as the Gar-Ali connects the commercial hub of Jorhat at one end and the Mariani Railway Station at the other and then moves on to Mokokchung in Nagaland, forming an important trade route. The route, however, is bound on one side by the railway track and has a number of educational institutes, offices including the LIC Divisional Office, a couple of petrol pumps, a number of godowns of FCI (Food Corporation of India) and the District Transport Office on the other.
Various kinds of vehicles standing in front of the DTO’s office and educational institutions to pick up and drop the students further narrow-down this stretch but, the greatest chaos is caused by trucks which makes a mad rush to unload commodities brought by the goods trains for the FCI godowns, of which there are four on the stretch between Gar-Ali Market and Cinnamara. These trucks rush at a great speed to meet the goods trains so that they can make a number of trips, not bothering about other vehicles in their way. This year seven accidents have already taken place, despite the weighbridge being removed from the area. Last year, an eight-year-old girl– Salima Khatoon lost her life in a similar accident while she was going to school. A sustained campaign by Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad cadres resulted in the removal of the weighbridge in front of which trucks were parked for about a kilometre and further hemmed the road. Although proposals had been made time and again to broaden the stretch and another smaller road had been proposed to be built on the other side of the railway track so that people residing on the other side or working in offices located there need not cross over the track to come to the road, nothing has been done till date. It may be mentioned that, about five people have also been run down by trains while crossing the railway track. THE SENTINEL
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