The ongoing beautification work at Khyndailad and it adjoining has been held up for some times now, which has proved to be good news for the dozens of hawkers who are engaged in brisk business on the thoroughfare.
The hawkers have virtually taken over the entire stretch of the thoroughfare at Khyndailad are now the owners of the stretch as they have set up temporary shops right on the middle of the road thereby obstructing free movement of pedestrians who throng the area by the thousands.
The hawkers have even managed to utilize the drainage pipes meant for the beautification work, which have been kept there, to display their wares.
The thoroughfare has now become so congested that it is simply difficult for anyone to walk freely without bumping into someone else, rued some people. Others were of the opinion that there is hardly any space left for pedestrians, now that the thoroughfare is full of potholes, pebbles and hawkers.
There were also some people, mostly womenfolk, who complained that certain anti-social elements take opportunity of the congestion to misbehave with women and girls especially in the evening hours when the crowd is at its maximum.
People are confused as to who should be blamed for the mess – the PWD which has not resumed the work after Christmas or the MUDA and the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) which has not yet initiated any action against the roadside hawkers or the hawkers themselves, who have been forced to open temporary shops right on the middle of the road since they have nowhere else to go.
Observers believe that the only way to make Khyndailad free from congestion and make walking a hassle-free affair, as is being claimed by the Urban Affairs department, is to create a separate market for these hawkers where they can do their business without creating any problems for themselves or for the pedestrians. The ball is squarely in the Government court now, they observed.
(Afaque Hussain)