Issue 12

6
City
VOX POP
Poor Roads
pcos: lost
in time
GPLUS SEP 14 - SEP 20, 2013
Lanes and by-lanes have been dug up to install pipes for the water supply project. But
once the installation is over, the dug up lanes are not repaired properly leading to bad
roads and harassments for pedestrians and vehicle owners alike.
With the promise of providing the citizens an unending supply of water, the GMDA made it a point to
install pipes all over the city in every lane and bye-lane as per the plan. The project looks promising
but the aftermath of the installation has been quite grim because now, the conditions of the roads are
deplorable. There are big potholes, which get worse with daily traffic and footfall. The root of problem has probably
been the fact that a proper thought was not followed while the project was being worked upon and this has
led to a set of disarrayed moves. It is not sure whether we shall get proper water supply in the near future but we
can be sure that we will have a hard time to deal with this situation of bad roads for some time to come.
Siba Dowerah, Senior Citizen
As far as I know, the pipes were installed by Gammon India. However, after installation,
they are supposed to repair them, but nothing has been done so far. Renovation work should
be executed fast otherwise it will have an adverse affect in the long run. Moreover, it was also
the responsibility of the GMDA to re-construct the roads but the progress looks too slow.
In the pursuit of a single benefit, many other problems have cropped up for the citizens as a
whole.
Shahnaz Zaman Choudhury, Post Graduation Student
The conditions of the roads are pathetic. Initially, the news of water supply to every corner
of the city seemed very interesting, in fact it still is, but that the people would have to suffer
was never a thought that could come to mind. Now this poor condition of the roads is a harassment
for every citizen and the promises made before the GMC elections have faded away.
Bibhas Nath, Graphic Designer
The locality I live in has become very muddy. During this monsoon, the roads were in
the worst conditions as even the good roads were excavated to fit these water-supply pipes. In
some areas, the craters have become so deep that it is hard to notice them and have become a
risk to pedestrians and vehicles.
Kristina Dowerah, Student
Low maintenance of the drainage system is another reason for such conditions of the
roads. Had the drains been properly maintained, the problem of stagnant water would not
have been there. During rainy days it becomes really difficult to commute as these roads are
flooded with water and we have no option other than to take rickshaws to avoid walking
through these roads. When can we expect some precautionary measures from the government?
Nayan Jyoti Dutta, Student
The main reasons for this condition of the streets are poor planning strategies and execution
of work. The people are harassed as I believe nobody is ready to take any responsibility of
re-building the roads and in the process, we have to face trouble most of the time.
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Well, the traffic
is really
taking a toll on
me. Nowadays, to reach somewhere
on time is like a rare fruit enjoyed in the b l a z i n g
summer sun. Well, at least it has given me plenty of time to observe
my surroundings and enjoy music, which I like the best. Guwahati
is changing or should I say trying, to lap up to ‘development’. It is
trying to structure itself after a metropolitan city.
As the music pounds my eardrums and Maroon five jar my
senses with “I am at a payphone, trying to call home…” wait payphones?
Who uses payphones nowadays? Yes, suddenly I asked myself
- where are the payphones?
Remember those cute little booths, with the fixed-line phones
- the PCOs? Those red and yellow phones with a slot to for a rupee
coin; the hassle for the one rupee coins. Where are they now? It
was once the most lucrative small or side businesses for many and
a mainstay of Guwahati’s city scape. It was fascinating how once
shopkeepers, dhabas, salons, doctors and restaurants across places
like Ganeshguri, Bhangagarh, Chnadmari, Beltola Maligoan and
all used to place a payphone or a small booth outside their establishment
just to earn that little extra money. The PCO or the Public
Call Offices which was considered an essential service, enabling
easy communication and connected so many people is now battling
for survival or, should I say, has become an ‘endangered species’
of communication.
The very next day, I searched for a PCO or even a payphone
would do, but it was in vain. True, I didn’t search every corner of
Guwahati, but I ran through most of the places. Beaten, I decide to
start at my locality which was once teeming with those little booths
and the red and yellow phones, where there was always a gaggle of
people having their evening quota of ‘addas’. I approached our local
shopkeeper who I remember used to own a then trendy PCO. I
asked him the obvious question and his response was, “Bhonty aji
kali aru kot PCO paba… mobile’or zamaanat.”
The PCOs started to thrive in the early 90s and took the telephone
out of the private domains into the public space. I talked to a
neighbour of mine who’s now well in her fifties and a lecturer of an
established college. She narrated to me the valuable role of PCO’s in
her life when her husband was transferred to another city and she
was stuck in Guwahati because of her work. “It was, I guess in 1986,
when my husband was transferred to Hyderabad and I had to wait
at our neighbour’s house to receive his calls. But with the coming
of public phones, all that changed and I could make as many calls
as I wanted. Now with cell phones, you won’t understand the value
of those public phones.”
With the mobile phones a rage and accessible to every level of
society, the Public Call Office was forced to call it quits making
the city lose one of its prominent attributes. The infiltration of cell
phones and the appealing rates offered by the different service providers
has lead to the declining use of PCO’s all over the country.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, stated that the decline
has been more evident since 2006, with about 2.6 lakhs PCO booths
in the country being shut during September-December 2008 alone.
Mobile phones are handy and are here to stay. But today’s adolescents,
teenagers and youth would never understand the charm of
a PCO. Those much anticipated, planned STD calls, the luxuries of
making an ISD call, calling your crushes in secret, making blank
calls for the pleasure of it and mostly, how it felt like to talk for
a limited time and yet having a satisfying conversation. And yes,
paying for your calls. It all signifies the passing of an era.
CITIZEN JOURNALIST
Yashomana Choudhary
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