Double benefits of flood lights
Ever wondered what flood lights could do? Well, of course it enables sporting events to be held in the evenings. What perhaps we didn’t know is that they could also increase the productivity of our government offices.
If one goes by the word of a senior government official, flood lights in JNSC would prevent government employees from leaving office early on the pretext of watching football matches. Double benefit indeed!
Wonder why such noble ideas were not thought of earlier. Kudos to NEC for assuring the funds which would lead to the installation of the proposed flood lights by middle of next year.
Construction in full swing
Ramky the Hyderabad-based company engaged by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) sow that they mean business.
The four-laning work on the GS Road is going on in full steam. And if Meghalaya does not create roadblocks by way of needless protests from pressure and interest groups whose only objective is to draw attention to themselves than to the issue then several development projects would have been in place today.
Dissent against displacement of people without a rehabilitation package is a serious matter. But when dissent is motivated by other ignoble objectives then the protesters must be exposed.
This is the feeling of most people from Umsning who have no stakes in whether the highway passes through Route A or Route B. All they want is for the work to be over and the dust to settle down.
The dust on the GS Road is causing tremendous problems especially for policemen and small vendors on the roadside.
Do we want trailers in Shillong?
Although the State Chief Secretary had assured the agitated people of Shillong that the long trailers would not come to Shillong they continue to do so.
On Sunday a passenger said he sighted a trailer bound for Shillong which actually had about 58 tyres and was carrying some special machinery. If such a trailer, en-route to Shillong fails to negotiate the hair-pin bends it is sure to topple with load and all and create a highway traffic.
But no one seems to care. Also no one cares that the GS Road is a death trap where the average accidents per day is six or seven or maybe even more.
Someone was heard muttering that something drastic would happen soon if we cannot clear the road of trucks and have to be at the receiving end of traffic jams. Wonder what action they are planning.
Overtaking
In a traffic blockade last week in Bishop Cotton Road, a local taxi tried to cut overtake other vehicles through the Camel Back Road where the congestion was lesser. As soon as it took drove through the Camel Back Road it was stopped at the end of this road by a moving Gypsy belonging to the Defence Forces.
The inmates in the Gypsy noticed that the taxi was going in the wrong direction whereas all other vehicles are stranded on the road so insisted that it go back from where it came.
The military personnel forced the local cabbie to drive backwards up to the residence of the Chief Secretary. The roads were choc-a-bloc with vehicles and there was no space for the cabbie to allow the Gypsy to pass.
In the end the local cabbie driver who wanted to reach his destination by overtaking all other vehicles was left from where it started. The cab driver and his passengers were punished for trying to overtake wrongly.
These local taxi drivers breaks the traffic rules very often and are one reason for the traffic jams in Shillong. They stop wherever they like to embark / disembark passengers and can overtake even a red beacon fitted VIP car if they will. The cabbies in the city have a free run whenever they hit the road.