GUWAHATI:
The Gauhati High Court, on August 4, constituted a three-member committee to make a comprehensive assessment of the traffic congestion in the city of Guwahati and put forward suggestions for manually handling the situation.
The court formed the committee following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Rita Das Mozumdar seeking the court’s directive to ease alarming traffic chaos in Guwahati city. In her PIL, Mozumdar highlighted how traffic congestion has made city life haphazard and hazardous.
A single judge bench of the High Court comprising Justice Soumita Saikia formed the committee comprising of DCP (traffic), Guwahati City, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, GMC and an officer nominated by the Assam State Legal Services Authority (ALSA). The court also directed Adil Khan, secretary of the transport department, and Nitul Gogoi, Inspector General of Police (IGP) to work as nodal officers in or above the committee.
The committee has been asked to visit the main roads, markets, and other places in the city of Guwahati where there is regular traffic congestion and make their suggestions about manually handling the traffic congestion in such areas.
The court, in its order, said that “the officers of the committee are permitted to take the aid of the police staff as well for this purpose”.
The court further directed the committee to submit its first report by August 22.