By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Public Works Department (PWD) has repetitively failed to take any kind of action against the rampant violation of the guidelines laid down by the Indian Road Congress (IRC) while constructing speed breakers across the city roads.
The speed breakers or road humps which are constructed in the city are in total violation of the mandatory guidelines which has put the general public in a lot of inconvenience.
Travellers and drivers alike are facing a horrible experience due to the presence of these speed breakers which are mostly uneven in size and do not conform to the guidelines specified by the Indian Road Congress (IRC).
In fact, these lapses was brought to the notice of PWD Minister HDR Lyngdoh and various senior official of the PWD including the former secretary of the department PSG Lyngdoh but nothing was initiated to see this serious lapse on the part of the department being corrected.
What is more interesting is that whenever the reporter spoke to PWD Minister and the senior official of PWD on this issue, they only resorted to expressing their concern over the failure of the department to follow mandatory guidelines while constructing the spread breaker.
The former PWD secretary few months back had even called for his engineers infront of the reporter, asking them to take immediate measures to see that the speed breakers are constructed keeping in view the proper specifications even as they are painted.
Sadly, the PWD Engineers does not seem to bother the directives of the senior official of the department to follow the specifications laid down by the IRC.
As per IRC guidelines a road hump should have a central height of 10-12 cm, should be parabolic in shape and have a width of 3.5 meters and length same as the road width.
The road humps should be painted in a ‘V’ shape and illuminated by solar cat’s eyes (solar cells embedded on pavements/road that reflect sun rays and glow in the dark) to make them visible.
The humps should not be more than five meters away from the junction or the intersection. Two signboards, one at 20 to 30 meters and another 10 meters away from the hump should be placed for the commuters to know about the road humps ahead. To add to this, intrusion of tree branches should be prevented.
The guidelines state that road humps should be put up only on the main roads and not on the cross roads. In ‘rumble strips’ (humps that have around 5 to 10 strips together), the width of each strip is to be one foot and the gap between each strip, one foot.
However, the road humps constructed on the city roads are found to flout all these specifications. What is most surprising is that there are speed breakers in the city constructed even on a curved stretch of the road. It has also been observed that in some localities, the local administrative bodies sometimes construct the road humps on their own without even bothering to inform the PWD or seek any prior permission. The result – uneven humps leading to bumpy rides.
It has also been noticed that there is no proper indication about any speed breaker. Normally, the speed breaker should be painted in a ‘V’ shape. But it is not a difficult task to recollect that not a single speed breaker in the city is painted.
Non-painted speed breakers are a potential risk to drivers especially during the night hours. Many drivers have complained that they find it difficult to negotiate these speed breakers at night.
Some of the drivers have even complained that they have fallen into roadside drains since they could not spot the speed breakers on time.
It is also found that the trend of putting a sign board reading ‘Drive Slow Speed Breaker Ahead’ is no longer implemented.
The violations in road hump guidelines only indicate one thing – PWD engineers do not go to the site to select the location and dimensions of the speed breakers before their construction.
Taking a serious cognizance on these lapses, the newly appointed PWD secretary S Chyrmang assured that he would immediately issue a directive to his engineers to see that the speed breakers are being constructed in a proper shape and size.
“I would also ask my engineers to see that all the speed breakers are painted since it is really difficult for the drivers to see them in the night hours,” Chyrmang told The Shillong Times on Sunday,
He however expressed difficulty in putting up the sign boards on both sides of the road to alert the drivers about the present of the speed breakers due to a shortage in funds.
The PWD secretary has himself experienced how difficult it is to travel along the speed breakers across the city.
Let us hope that the present PWD secretary would keep his assurance for the larger interest of the commuters in the city.