Prayagraj: Misleading indicators and vulnerable road crossing plagues prospective smart city

Awasthi.

PRAYAGRAJ: The famous Grand Truck Road that passes through Allahabad actually enters the city from Chaufatka and passes through Himmatganj, Khuldabad, Kotwali, Bahadurganj, Kothaparcha and Bairahna heads for Varanasi. The road is mentioned in the records of Allahabad. But a display board in Civil Lines on M.G. Marg just across the Axis Bank indicates a road as G.T. Road north of the railway line. It is actually P.D. Tandon Road also known as Kanpur Road going to Varanasi from Kanpur via Allahabad. Since it is between Allahabad-Varanasi some mistakenly call it Grand Truck Road. And this “some” also includes the PWD which has put up the board at a prominent place in the city’ upmarket.

However, it reflects poorly on the P.W.D’s working which never checked its display boards before putting them up for informing the public information or before ordering the boards being painted. What does it showcase about the city’s governance?

The casual manner in which the PWD functions also comes across when one looks at another display board at the PD. Tandon road crossing at Civil Lines. It is a blunder. The board indicates the direction of Sir Tez Bahadur Sapru Hospital. But instead of Tej Sapru Hospital one finds the name as Tej Hospital. Sir Tej Sapru, the well-known figure of India of Nehru’s times, a respected name all over the country, is spelt out on display wrong the way his name has come forward for the public seems he is just one of the thousands.  He is no less than Nehru. So his name should be put forward for the people in as respected way as Nehru’s if not more. Howe come PWD made as big a blunder as this and the entire public eyes are closed to this?

Another blunder by the department is a display board at Eklavya crossing near the Govt. Press. It indicates Police Line and Kotwali in the same direction. Both are in the opposite direction one to the north of railway line and the other (Kotwali) to the South.

This just goes to show how casually the authorities in charge of city’s governance function and showcase the city and themselves poorly in the eyes of everyone who visits this pilgrim city apart from its residents.

The gaffe by authorities does not end here only. There are several road-crossings, where traffic crawls at a snail pace. For instance, the road just outside Allahabad junction railway station (city side) is the busiest of city’s road-intersections with a high density of vehicular traffic passing through it. The traffic from almost the entire old city area leading towards Allahabad High Court and govt. offices located at Sarojini Naidu Marg, Civil Lines, passes through this crossing. The problem here is compounded by a large number of vehicles and rickshaws collecting around the inter-section to transport passengers arriving by trains, which today number around a total of 100 on up and down routes.

And this makes it not only the nightmare for commuting public because of traffic jam but also potentially dangerous for road mishaps, courtesy blind traffic police force and its disability to regulate traffic.

The “Improvement Trust” which had been created in the second decade of twentieth century for managing urban development of the city (then only the old city) following outbreak of plague in the congested city areas, had, too, termed this road crossing as potentially dangerous although  only a few trains passed through Allahabad junction  then. Even the crowds descending on Allahabad junction during annual Magh Melas and 12-yearly Maha Kumbhs were not as large as they are now. Nor were as many competitive examinations held in Allahabad as they are now, attracting a sea of aspirants landing at the junction station to be transported to their respective examination centres.

The traffic then was a slow one consisting mainly of tongas, ekkas and cycle rickshaws. Thus in the absence of fast moving vehicular traffic, this potentially dangerous road junction had not assumed such alarming proportions.

However, with the growth of new city, born as a consequence of mutiny of 1857, located to the north of railway line, known as Cannington (now Civil Lines), and the fast moving motorized vehicles made their appearance resulting in vulnerability of roads and road-intersections to mishaps. But whatever the density of the vehicle traffic the road crossing outside railway junction absorbed it.

It was the growing number of trains passing through Allahabad and the rise of public transport outside the station that came with it, that started to make the inter-section dangerous for mishaps and a place for traffic jams.

The regular increase in the number of passing trains also resulted in a huge number of lodges and shops mushrooming on all roads outside the junction catering to arriving passengers. This caused another problem, that of encroachments on the roads adversely affecting the movement of traffic around the road inter-section.

Matters were made worse when cycle-rickshaws, ekkas and tongas were replaced by fast moving motorized transport. However, the advent of Vikram three-wheelers and easy financing for their purchase transformed the public transport scene and with it the turning into the hell of the road crossing. With easier financing for purchase, quick movement, cheaper rates and larger capacity, these became the preferred mode of transport and began registering rapid growth. To compound the problem the e-rickshaws have also made their appearance and with advantage of saving on the fuel costs, became another preferred mode of public transport, apart from Vikram three-wheelers.

Although there are designated parking spaces for vehicles heading towards different directions, it is seldom that traffic authorities make the slightest effort to enforce. For destinations towards Jhalwa and Mundera there is designated parking space on the  south end of Leader Road just before the Khusroobagh  gate while on the north end vehicles leaving for Kutchery, Daraganj and Sangam are to be parked. In the same way, there is parking facility at the Noorullah Road for vehicles heading for Kareli, Karelabagh and Meerapur side.

It is actually high competition among vehicle drivers and rickshawpulers to try to grab arriving passengers, particularly those going to Sangam which leads them to throng the railway gate and catch the client. This results in the inter-section being overcrowded by vehicles particularly at the arrival of any train. It is at these moments that every road passing through this inter-section undergoes heavy traffic jam besides becoming potentially dangerous. There is police booth adjacent to assist the public but it is often sans cops and whenever they surface it is just to have some gossips with local netas than to help the public by regulating the traffic and make road decongested and safer for commuters as well as pedestrians.