By Paul Lyngdoh
The rapid decline of Shillong into a concrete jungle pockmarked by emerging ghettoes, tonnes of garbage and the general collapse of civic amenities should ring a bell of alarm in all those with a concern and love for the pine city that once prided itself as the Queen of the Hills. The visual and sensory assaults one encounters daily as one crisscrosses the city are becoming increasingly difficult to stomach. Having held the reins of the Department of Urban Affairs in the recent past, it would be appropriate for me to begin by stating that the intention of this piece is not to take potshots at any individual, institution or group, but to try and offer some actionable remedial course.
Let me state unequivocally that the problem of managing the city springs not from the lack of agencies mandated- either constitutionally or conventionally- to do so, but, paradoxically, from the multiplicity of such agencies. In the 174 square km- GSPA (Greater Shillong Planning Area) you have Govt. agencies like the SMB, the MUDA and the various Govt. departments. Then you have non-Governmental and para-statal and central Government agencies like ‘Ki Dorbar Shnong’, the Dorbar Hima Mylliem, the KHADC, the Cantonment Board, the Defence Establishments and what have you! A closer look at these bodies would reveal the dichotomy between the mandate they enjoy, the roles and duties they perform and the levels of transparency and accountability they uphold.
The Dorbar Hima Mylliem, for instance, has enormous revenue in its kitty, raised through various forms of taxation. Yet delivery of service is woefully non-existent, transparency is an alien word in its dictionary and Iewduh has become a monument of mammoth shame and disgrace. The SMB continues to wobble and gasp for breath. Contrary to popular belief, it is inadequately staffed to meet the mounting responsibilities, more so in its Engineering Wing. Its turf war with the PHE over water supply is well-known, and its attempts at strengthening its resource base has always met with strident opposition from various quarters. The KHADC seems to limit its interest to augmenting its coffers from revenue raised through trading licenses, and hobnobbing with the moneybags of the Hima Mylliem. The Dorbar Shnong, on their part, are caught in an eternal quagmire : how to deliver basic services to an increasingly demanding population without any clearly defined source of revenue, with the Rangbah Shnong insisting on serving on a voluntary, altruistic basis (though again there is a thick veil of opacity regarding financial dealings in a large number of dorbar).
The point that needs to be stressed here is that the administration of a capital city whose population has crossed the 4 lakh-mark is bound to fail- and ultimately collapse- in the absence of an in-built and institutionalised arrangement that ensures co-ordination and collective responsibility to the city’s dwellers among these various agencies. Come February and Shillong witnesses the recurrent phenomenon of water shortage. But how do we fix responsibility when each of these agencies continues to exercise their powers in absolute isolation of the others and with no signs of synergy? Even the catchment areas and water reservoirs are not protected adequately! Finally, in the storm of charges and counter-charges during the dry spell, the muck lands at the door-steps of –who else- the MLA!
The far more serious issue we must grapple with is how do we deal with the enormity of administering a city that started off as a cluster of villages but is today almost a metro-city bursting at the seams . Some hard, even politically unpopular decisions must be taken to stem this descent into chaos. Dialogue must begin now on how best this city should be run- whether it is an elected Greater Shillong Corporation or any such entity and how ‘Ki Dorbar Shnong’ will fit in this scheme of things. A bill that attempts at synergizing the existing Meghalaya Municipal Act, the spirit of the 74th Amendment and the Sixth Schedule is quite a possibility if each of the agencies, and especially the State Govt., the District Councils and the Dorbar Shnong do not look at the issue as a turf war that each has to win. The citizenry of Shillong must articulate their aspirations and, hopefully, those who are opposed to a particular administrative framework must also be asked to spell out an alternative, viable structure. The Shillong Municipal Board completed a century of its existence last year. Do we wait another century before infusing the much-felt institutional renewal that will save this city from the current path of destruction and chaos?
Its Show Time Folks
The current spat between two ladies leading two factions of the Civil Society Women’s Organisation is anything but lady-like. Kong Patricia Mukhim has done an analytical piece on the row. To me, though, it has all the ingredients of a box-office hit: a young criminal enjoying the alleged patronage of dons and politicians; a love-struck Juliet who got murdered instead; a well-planned jailbreak and subsequent police cover-up; warring women’s groups in matrilineal Meghalaya and Court room proceedings meant to unearth the truth but veering towards a cul-de-sac. Will someone pass the word around to the likes of Mahesh Bhatt and Subhash
Parting Shot
A friend of mine was at Guwahati to attend a workshop on conflict resolution through the intervention of mediation centres which can settle petty disputes amongst litigants without investing time and money in courts of law. He narrated this interesting part of the proceedings to me. A member of the audience, a Chief belonging to a certain tribe, took the floor to explain how his village council can even handle serious cases of murder and adultery too. How do you punish murderers, he was asked. Well, we fine them two Mithuns (a domesticated member of the bovine species), was the reply. And adultery? The guilty party is ordered to strip to his loin-clothes and asked to leave the village with only a dao to protect himself!
(The writer welcomes brief anecdotes which can be sent to paullyng @gmail.com)