Elections have always been an occasion for promises by political leaders in order to woo the voters from time to time, yet the implementation of the same remains very theoretical and often only on paper! The Smart City project of City Guwahati which was early in 2016. This city which is called the “City of Eastern Lights” which was selected as one of the first 20 such projects in India ranked 17th .
Guwahati is considered to be the gateway to Northeast. The state capital has several advantages on its own, perhaps await the responses from the concerned authorities to the state or central governments.
Guwahati extends a lot of dreams in the minds of many from the rural or urban districts of Assam who visit the city for personal or professional purposes now and then. Guwahati is potentially a treasure.
Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is “the urban local body responsible for governing, developing and managing Guwahati. It administers an area of 216.79 km² of Guwahati city. The entire GMC area is divided into 31 municipal wards and each municipal ward is further divided into 2, 3 or 4 Area Sabhas. Presently, there are 90 Area Sabhas.” Team GMC works under the Guwahati Development Department.
Today, the Government of Assam led by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma reviewed the condition of Guwahati city roads. The CM directed officials to carry out immediate inspection to identify damaged and likely to be damaged roads and submit report within 10 days for necessary repair and improvement. It was a high level meeting.
Who can solve the basic problems of Guwahatians? Now it’s a big question !
Need more toilets:
If you go in Kolkata you found every 200 to 300 meters as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has taken care of this. But in Guwahati, there are only around 10 to 15 public toilets. People are facing lots of problems for it.
Traffic problems:
The traffic system of Guwahati is yet to be sorted as the other cities of eastern and northeastern India like Kolkata and Agartala. Every day, there are traffic jams from 9am and 11 am and between 5pm and 7pm. In some places, traffic signals are available, but not working properly.
Drinking-Water Problems:
Drinking-Water Problem is one of the important problems of Guwahatians. This City faces heavy crises of drinking water. In the Guwahati area like Lal Ganesh, Odalbakra, Lachit Nagar, Ulubari, Ganeshguri, Kahilipara, Maligaon etc always face water crisis problems and they have to buy water on a daily basis.
Flash floods Problem :
However, flash floods remain an issue that waits to be addressed by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) or the state government at large. Every time it rains, there is flash flood in the state capital. Just 30-minutes of continuous rainfall in Guwahati flash floods occurred at various places of City Guwahati like Ganeshguri, Hatigaon, Chandmari,Lalganesh, Odalbakra,Dispur, Gitanagar. People suffer since a long time. But no major steps have been taken by the government of Assam in controlling it.
Despite promises to develop Guwahati as a prominent city, the city faces tough times in several aspects. It is a certainly hopeful that the concerned authorities would look into the important aspects without delay and Guwahati would indeed be smart in the days to come for the greater interest of the public and the residents of the city.