In its bid to beautify Khyndai Lad, the State Government had, few 
years back, constructed a rotary right in the heart of the city and decorated it with a colourful fountain and a flower garden. Sadly over the years the fountain has become non-functional.
The fountain had been constructed in 2005, and inaugurated by the then Chief Minister DD Lapang. The total estimate of the entire project was Rs 5.42 crore. The project included erecting a long pole and installation of halogen lights and a fountain around it, besides widening of the road for the rotary.
Today only the flower garden remains but people cannot recall watching the fountain in full glory in the recent past.
The rotary is in a sorry state as neither the fountain nor all the lights are functioning. Earlier, an right to information (RTI) petition was filed by some city-based NGOs had revealed that though the government had stated the cost of the project to be Rs 5.42 crore, the actual expenditure was only Rs 3.09 crore.
When contacted, Shillong Municipal Board CEO T Lyngwa informed that there is mechanical problem which lies beneath the ground leading to the non-functioning of the fountain.
“The problem is that we have to dig the ground to fix the problem and it will cause huge traffic inconvenience. So we are looking at other options to fix the problem,” Lyngwa added. (By Aafaque Hussain)