Traffic woes on highway
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A major traffic congestion along the Shillong-Guwahati road (NH-40) left hundreds of passengers stranded for over four hours on Friday evening.
The traffic congestion was a result of the trucks being parked on both sides of the highway.
It is learnt that vehicles could not move even an inch for many hours as there was no traffic personnel to regulate the traffic flow.
The truck drivers refused to move their trucks despite persistent requests by the stranded passengers.
Strangely, no police personnel came to the rescue of the passengers despite the matter being brought to the notice of the Ri-Bhoi district administration.
A senior government official, who was in the way to Guwahati, called The Shillong Times office to inform that he was stranded at Lad Sharai, Ri-Bhoi district for atleast four hours.
He also said that there were no traffic personnel to regulate the traffic flow on the arterial highway.
This latest incident clearly indicates the lack of proper planning on the traffic management along the highway and also the reckless driving by many private car owners/drivers who indulge in unnecessary overtaking.
The absence of lay-byes along the highway is also another factor that has compounded the traffic snarls. Along the two national highways in the State, there are only two prominent lay-bies – one near Laitkor (along NH-44), about 15 km from Shillong, and another at Mawlai Mawiong (along NH-40), around 5 km from here. Not only this, the Supreme Court order prohibiting trucks from carrying load beyond 9 metric tonnes has evidently proved to be a double-edged sword. The restriction on overloading has resulted in more trucks hitting the road, some of which are well below the permissible fitness level.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Conrad K Sangma, has come down heavily on the State Government for failing to reduce traffic congestion in the city and on the highways.
“The traffic congestion has become a regular problem which is not acceptable,” Sangma told reporters here on Friday.
He also wondered why the Government was allowing so many trucks to ply on a single day.
Action against ‘unfit vehicles’
The State police have decided to act against unfit heavy vehicles plying on the two national highways without fitness certificates.
The police action comes in the wake of recurring incidents of old vehicles breaking down in the middle of the highway leading to huge traffic snarls that last for several hours at times. Besides, police would also issue ‘fitness stickers’ to trucks conforming to the mandatory fitness levels. All vehicles without such stickers would be prevented from plying on the highways.
Authorities in the three districts of East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Ri Bhoi would conduct checking at various points along the national highways to detect vehicles plying without the fitness stickers.
The decisions were taken at a meeting between the State Police and truckers’ bodies comprising of the Meghalaya Commercial Truckers Operators and Owners Association and the Jaintia Hills Truckers Owners Association.