On the first day of 2024, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma laid the foundation stone for a 4-lane elevated corridor connecting the historic Dighali Pukhuri with Noonmati in the eastern part of Guwahati. Projected to be the longest flyover in northeast India with arms towards GNB Road, west Dighali Pukhuri Road and Rajgarh Road, it measures over five kilometres (standing at a minimum height of 5.70 metres). The construction cost, around Rs 852 crores, will be borne by the public works department (roads). CM Sarma assured that the flyover will be operational by 2026, and the concerned agencies will take all possible measures to minimise inconveniences to the general public during its construction. After its completion, the project will allegedly decongest the traffic for the next 25 years.

Aiming to transform the historic city into a highly urbanised zone playing the role of an effective gateway to southeast Asian nations, Sarma also argued that the new flyover would boost business opportunities in the Dighali Pukhuri-Noonmati stretch as it would provide much-needed parking spaces that would be available below the flyover. The saffron-toting leader assured that rather than felling trees, they would be transplanted using modern technology.

However, he has yet to announce pragmatic policies to address the hardships that will be faced by small business establishments on both sides of the concerned road. Moreover, an initiative needs to be taken to support the city press club in the Ambari area, which will lose a sizable front area to the flyover, drastically reducing its working space.

Some time back, the Journalists' Forum Assam (JFA), comprising nearly a thousand journalists, expressed concern about the probable shrinking space in the media club. The scribe's forum also appealed to Sarma to arrange a separate accommodation for the media workers. JFA president Rupam Barua emphasised relocating the five-decade-old media club to a separate place, ensuring a permanent address for the growing number of journalists affiliated with various media platforms. Many conscious citizens have been demanding its relocation as the club functions from an important archaeological site. They argue that the Ambari archaeological site should be made encroachment-free and necessary preservation and research works be pursued with a national commitment.

Situated at the heart of Kamrup metropolitan district, the site has been excavated several times since 1968 to find more remains. The archaeology department claims that the ruins of Ambari reflect the period of the Sunga-Kushana dynasty. Discovered in the course of construction for the Reserve Bank of India's office in that locality, the site attracts visitors from different parts of the country. The forum appealed to the concerned personnel to relocate the club to the Beltola-Basistha area, sanctioned by the State government a few months back (State IPR minister Piyush Hazarika has already laid the foundation stone for the building).

The forum wishes to address the growing need for a place to accommodate working journalists associated with newspapers, television channels, radio outlets and digital platforms. It also urged everyone to commit to making the Ambari site free from encroachers as early as possible.

A few months back, the Press Club of Assam (PCA) came out with another demand for a modern multi-media centre in a prime location of Guwahati to benefit thousands of journalists in the region. It pushed for space to house different press clubs/media organisations and an affordable lodging facility for visiting journalists inside the eco-friendly complex. The centre should have facilities for a meeting place for scribes, initiate programs for their capacity building and arrange programs for the welfare of media families. The centre can also be a location for regular programs like press meet/briefings, interactive sessions with distinguished personalities, screenings of national and international classic movies and documentaries, video conferences with foreign journalist-writer-scholars, training and workshops for young scribes, regular health camps, etc. Various non-media individuals and organisations will also be able to take advantage of the platform for organising their programs and expressing their views freely on different public issues, said PCA president Kailash Sarma, adding that the centre can be powered by rooftop solar energy so that it depends little on regular electricity during the daytime.