From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: In a road rage in the heart of Guwahati city on Wednesday morning hours, a mob of people set fire to a traffic police point near Jonali bustop along the busy Radha Govinda Baruah Road after a school bus hit a motorcycle rider killing him on the spot besides seriously injuring another man on bi-cycle.
The bus also hit a Santro car on the road after it driver apparently lost control.
The school bus belonging to Sudarshan Public School in the city was traveling from Ganeshguri point towards Sanmari point along the R G Baruah Road when it first hit the man on bi-cycle and then rammed in the motorcycle killing the rider Arup Kumar Das on the spot.
A mob of public then went on a rampage on the road even as the bus driver slipped away from the spot.
The people set fire to a traffic police post on the spot in protest against ‘police’s inability to man it regularly’.
The angry people then blocked traffic on the road for about four hours till 12 noon creating traffic congestion in many parts of the city.
The angry people had altercation with policemen who had come to the spot after the accident and accused the latter of being more interested in ‘extorting money’ from public transports and public carriers than trying to discipline those.
Traffic congestion and rah driving have become a menace in Guwahati city where ageing narrow roads have become unable to accommodate ever increasing number of vehicles on the road.
Building of a number of flyovers along the busy G. S Road during the last few years have failed to ease the congestion on the road. The problem is compounded by parked vehicles all along the busy roads because of lack of assigned parking space in the city.
The flood plain of Guwahati has seen haphazard urbanization in recent years, taking toll on the civic amenities of residents.