Walking Zone, Guwahati

“Very good response today as thousands throng on this otherwise busy Guwahati road, to enjoy
the sight of the river front of Brahmaputra,” Dr Sarma tweeted.
It has been initiated at the instance of Assam’s tourism and Guwahati Development Department
minister Dr Himanta Bishwa Sarma.
People from all walks of life and age groups were seen jovially walking along the road stretch to
enjoy the magnificence of Brahmaputra River front sans any worry of being knocked down by
speeding vehicle.
The otherwise very busy road stretch was converted to a walking zone for the first time as part of
an experiment which intends to make the road stretch a walking zone on every Sundays and other
holidays for the benefit of people who want to enjoy a pleasant afternoon walk along the river
front.
The success of the experiment will lead to making the road stretch a walking zone in the
afternoon of every Sundays and other state holidays. Vehicular traffic along the road stretch was
diverted through Hem Baruah Road and AT Road.
State Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during a press meet held on Saturday announced that the MG Road from
Sukreshwar Temple point to Bharalu will be turned into a Walking Zone from 4 PM to 10 PM every Sunday,

The minister has also directed the PWD to construct the dilapidated roads across the city at the earliest.

Reported on Assam Tribune on October 22,2017.

Following the decision of the Guwahati Development Department (GDD) to

earmark a stretch of 1.5 kilometres along the Mahatma Gandhi Road for use as a
‘walking zone’, the road from Sukreswar Temple to Bharalumukh was dedicated
to the walkers (every Sunday), initially on an experimental basis.

The move, however, also drew a lot of negative reactions, mainly due to
the traffic mismanagement and traffic jam on several arterial roads due to
diversion of vehicular traffic.

“The entire stretch of Kamarpatty, AT Road, Fancy Bazar and several

other areas of the city witnessed massive traffic snarls due to this ill-
planned move of the State government. Guwahati city cannot be
beautified through closure of its arterial road for such long hours. If the
government is serious about creating a walking zone, some alternative
arrangements should be done,” social activist Ajoy Dutta said.

The SGBG has also opposed the GDD decision. “Such decisions cannot be
taken in haste. There should be a proper assessment of the volume of
vehicular traffic on Sunday evenings and a corresponding study about
whether the other roads can take the additional load of traffic diversion
from the MG Road,” Krishno K Borooah and Satyen Doloi, president and
general secretary respectively of SGBG reasoned.
“Earlier, the Lakshminath Bezbaroah Road was closed down arbitrarily by
the government. But the stretch was not used in any productive way. This
new decision, if implemented on a regular basis would create a chaotic
scene every Sunday and on national holidays,” Anirban Das, a student,
who spent two hours in the traffic jam today, said.

Article by GPlus reported on 2 June,2018

Walking zone fails to attract recurrent visitors

A survey was conducted by G Plus in which 100 people were asked for their opinion on the Walking Zone
project. 100 respondents were randomly selected from a cross section of people comprising regular commuters
of the area, residents across Guwahati and the owners of the business establishments in and around the area.
The findings reveal that the walking zone has failed to attract recurrent visitors.

The declining rate of recurring footfall in the walking zone was identified as 24 percent of the people surveyed
who had never visited the walking zone on a Sunday earlier. 26 percent had visited the zone 1-5 times, 6 percent
had visited 5-10 times, around 10 percent had visited more than 10 times and approximately 34 percent had
visited the stretch of road only once before.

Moreover, the people had similar opinion on the impact of the project on the riverfront beautification of the city. 42
percent people are of the opinion that the walking zone serves little purpose in this regard whereas 38 percent of
the people believe that it addresses the issue and the remaining 20 percent are unsure of whether it has served
any purpose to it at all.

Despite much hype created while launching the Walking Zone project in October 2017, in which the stretch of MG
Road from Bharalumukh to Sukleshwar Temple was dedicated to pedestrians every Sunday (from 4pm to 10
pm), the move in the last few months has managed to woo only half of the initial footfall.

While 50 percent expressed their satisfaction over the move, 38 percent expressed dissatisfaction and the
remaining 12 percent chose to wait and see its impact.

The survey, which aimed at providing an insight into the activities and people participation on Sundays, was done
as a follow-up to the multiple stories covered by G Plus on the same issue in the final quarter of last year. Things
have hardly changed since then.

The people had a mixed opinion on the impact of the walking zone in the city, with the positive replies (at 36
percent) only slightly edging ahead of the negative replies (at 34 percent). The remaining 30% noticed no impact
at all. “It is a stupid idea which doesn’t have any positive impact. The idea should be dropped,” said one
respondent, Sachin Jain.

Even though approximately 48 percent of the people are in favour of the walking zone being anchored to the
particular area, 40 percent of the people feel that business is badly affected due to the move while the remaining
12 percent are not affected by the space at all. “It is hampering business,” said Ajay Murarka, a 45 year old
businessman of the area.
Parking problems also add to the woes of the people who plan to visit the walking zone on the Sundays. Around
18 percent are affected by massive traffic jams around that area, lack of parking spaces contribute to another 18
percent, while overcrowding of the area adds to 10 percent and illegal street vending are just the tip of the
iceberg at 14 percent. 40 percent of the people have not faced any such problems as of now.

Even though a majority of the people has expressed their displeasure at the execution of the project, people have
still come up with suggestions to improve the state of affairs.
“There should be added events to keep the crowd engaged,” said a resident of the area. “It should be planned in
a better way, with adequate parking facilities and proper traffic management,” said Pawan Sharma, another
resident.

The project had been taken up to address the issue of the riverfront beautification of the city.

The project, which was started as a pilot project initially, simply turned out to double up the problems for the
dwellers of this proposed Smart City. The project, which was visualized to provide the citizens a space to walk,
socialize and enjoy the street food and witness the glory of the mighty Brahmaputra, needs major amends for its
proper revival. The administration had promised to improve the infrastructure of the adjoining areas to cope up
with the additional diverted traffic but no drastic steps have been taken in this regard so far.

Another Problem the administration hopes to address is that of parking.

Traffic congestion on other routes in the city were also a problem this time.
Many people who were supposed to take the MG Road had to take AT
Road to reach Jhalukbari side which created jam on the entire area.
"This was done without proper study. This is a sort of harassment. We
welcome such moves but it should have been well planned. It is very
unfortunate on the part of the district administration and the Guwahati
development department," said Rahul Das, a city resident.
Guwahati development minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had announced the
walking zone, saying that it will allow the people to spend quality time with
their families.

He informed that about eight lanes in Fancy Bazar along with the old jail
campus will be used as parking facility and the PWD has been directed to
immediately repair all the damaged roads in the area.

The government is apparently promoting ‘ease of doing business’ for the investors in
Assam at the cost of ‘ease of movement’ of the citizens. The Guwahatians this
Sunday had a harrowing time while driving through the streets.

Sunday walking zone and ongoing Advantage Assam simply double up the problems
of the dwellers of the proposed smart city. It also shows the state government was
not smart enough keeping in view the possible problems may arise while organizing
such a gala event.
Schools along the National Highway were forced to close down on Saturday. The
Sunday traditional market at Beltola was also closed by the administration. The
government seems to have failed to plan it out in advance how to tackle these
problems without causing inconvenience to the people.

Forced closure or diversion of vehicular movement seems to be the easiest strategy

the think tank of the administration can adopt for the smooth functioning of Global
Investors’ Summit.

Since it is Sunday – two walking zones on the Southern and Northern parts of the
city causing nightmarish driving experiences for the citizens. The stretch from
Sukreswar Temple to Bharalumukh along the Brahmaputra in the city is converted
into a walking zone. So those driving to and fro Northern part are having a
nightmarish experience. The scenario is same if anyone wants to drive through the
Southern part of the city. He or she will face the same problem on the stretch from
Khanapara veterinary field to Regional Science Centre.

Unprecedented traffic congestion was seen on the National Highway. A long queue
of vehicles stranded on the both sides of the National Highway causing much
inconvenience to the people. Movement of vehicular traffic came to a standstill near
Bharalumukh also due to the Sunday walking zone.

The government has taken a welcome step to bring investors by organizing

Advantage Assam. But it has failed miserably when it comes to offer advantage to
the Guwahatians.