Letter from the Editor - In - Chief
Dear friends,
March 2012
Normally, I comment on the cover story. However, this time, I deviated from the norm and touched on the special report entitled ‘Lack of Vision has Clogged Shillong and I have expressed my views and opinion. However, our cover story this month entitled ‘Return of the Native’ is also another important subject and the issue has been covered a number of times by Eastern Panorama. I only hope that a proper solution to the problem of the displaced Brus will come about soon.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru the 1st Prime Minister of independent India had once described Shillong as ‘A patch of beauty’. Shillong also used to be referred to as the Shimla or Srinagar of the east. It was also termed by many as the Scotland of the east. It was one of the favourite and most pampered capitals during the British days with the likes of Kolkata and Shimla, later Delhi or New Delhi. Thanks to the growing urabanisation in the hill town of Shillong, this patch of beauty has been lost and in its place traffic jams and deforestation have taken place.
Traffic jams within the city and in national highway from Shillong to Guwahati or Shillong to Silchar is indeed an issue of great concern. Not only are hundreds of people unable reach Guwahati airport and railway station in time and miss their flights and trains but there have also been cases where babies were delivered in the ambulance which were stuck in such traffic jams. Many patients requiring special treatment and who were travelling to Guwahati have lost their lives on the road.
No doubt the magnitude of traffic jam in Shillong has reached its peak and the government and administrators can not afford to delay solutions to the problem. The headline news in a Shillong based English daily on the 15th of February, was indeed shocking which reported the death of a woman and her unborn baby. This must serve as an eye opener for the concerned authorities. Perhaps the government will have to come up with long term and short term measures to check the traffic congestion and also take into account the traffic which is going to increase in the coming days due to industrial growth, growth in educational institutes and natural growth.
In the short term approach, the Government of Meghalaya has introduced buses and maxi cabs which are providing relief to the citizens of Shillong. There is a need for more of such buses along different routes and we have to appreciate the introduction of maxi cabs as a supplementary urban transport system as a major initiative in the right direction.
However in the short term the Government must review its policy of running taxis in Shillong. Their numbers need to be curtailed as they are the major source of traffic congestion. The lack of ethics of these drivers which portrays Shillong in a very negative light through the tourists also needs to be looked into. We need to think of whether our existing roads can take the load of so many taxis. Do we need to stop issuing fresh taxi permits for the city of Shillong? These are the issues which need to be addressed to solve the traffic problems of the city in the short term.
In the long term, however, there is no other option but to complete the national by-pass from Umroi on a war footing and Guwahati-Shillong national highway 40 to be completed on the deadline by 2013. Along with these, survey of new roads must continue and need – based road connection must be an ongoing activity.
This by itself will not end the miseries of Shillong. What Shillong needs is decentralization and horizontal growth of its urban services so that the beauty of this hill town can be restored to its former splendour.