A couple of days back, two students were mowed down on their way to school— a Class XI girl student died on the spot where as her friend sustained severe injuries. This episode points to a bigger problem which is facing the capital administration as well as its residents. The lack of pedestrian ways or footpath; the little available have been encroached as parking lots, designated or otherwise. Question is where will the public walk?

It is also sad that the deceased belonged to the migrant community and therefore little has come in terms of consolation from civil society as well as the state government. Had the unfortunate incident involved God forbid, a local, things would have been different. Herein one does not mean ‘monetary compensation’ but the fact that a family lost a child and seemingly, their grief has gone unnoticed.

Arunachal Pradesh has incidents of road accidents much above the national average, although concerning doesn’t exactly come as a shock. Road Safety and adherence to traffic rules are non-issues here. The traffic management authorities in the state have a daunting task to manage road users and the lack of infrastructure makes their job that much more hard. Footpaths, Zebra Crossings etc which ensure pedestrian safety and help in keeping the roads in order are missing fuelling more chaos.

 Of late, the capital complex region has seen unprecedented building boom. But one thing largely remains the same—lack of footpaths. Even as new modern structures are coming up, pedestrian walk ways are given least attention. Rarely are our cities planned for the people. Roads are meant for cars and two wheelers but never for the general public.

The lack of this vital infrastructure is making our schoolchildren walking to school everyday especially vulnerable. We hope the government and the authorities wake up to this realization before another young life is lost.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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