As I was walking down the road of Golfutar, I saw a sewer tunnel at the pedestrian’s footpath and was wondering about the three accidents that occurred recently in this area. An old woman from the old age home was hit by a Royal Enfield bike: spot dead. An old man was hit by another bike. He too died instantly hitting his head on the road and a boy had tibia fracture when hit by a bike. People are forced to walk on the roadside because of improperly managed road side junks. These road side junks include the spare broken tunnel, the bricks and sand dunes from the under-construction houses. In a developed country, keeping your side of the road dirty results you being fined heftily. Here it’s a total audacity!
Some areas of the footpath do not have a proper cover. A man should watch every step he takes, or else he might have his foot or sometimes half his body inside the drain. At least, this can be managed during the broad daylight, but what about the night time? There are a very few street lamps that could have helped pedestrians. Walk on the side of the road, and you risk being hit by the speeding vehicles; walk on the footpath, you might injure yourself if you don’t watch your step.
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There is a children’s park at the center of Golfutar, a beautiful place! With the effort of the local community and the then Village Development Committee, we fenced the park, planted trees, installed the bars, swings and slides for the kids. It’s not a rare view to see film crew shooting scenes here every now and then. But it has a darker aspect too! As soon as the kids get to their home, they get ready and run to this place to play. Little do they know that there lies danger between the ground and their happiness, the road. These high speed cars and especially bikes have threatened every parent and have put them on their edge, some lock the gates of the park after they enter, and some run to them as soon as the kids get near the gates. Every day, the local people volunteer to help the children in crossing the roads or teach them how to cross or scold them not to run. They are, after all, kids.
There is not a single day that screeching tires are not heard. Everyday some kind of issue arises, every week someone is injured and rushed to the Neuro hospital or TU Teaching Hospital. Every month a dog is killed by the vehicles. This clearly signifies how dangerous Golfutar has become.
And then arises the issue with the teenage boys riding bike for fun with their stunts. They ride at a speed of about 150km/hr on a road where two santro cars would have trouble moving past each other without slowing down. The request for making humps on the road was turned down by the government, stating that the accident rates would increase if done so.
With the money collected from each household, a concrete building was made for the police. But no improvements can be seen as yet. Yes, the other crime rates have decreased, thanks to their frequent patrolling, but this issue has not been taken with much importance.
I request the government to turn its attention to this issue, and every reader; be it a resident of Budhanilkantha municipality or not, to have this in his/her mind as they pass this road. And yes, road is a means for facilitating transportation not a race track!
