The residents of Jail Road have opposed the idea of the State Government to construct temporary sheds in the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Square (NSCBS) in Jail Road.
The Government plans to construct a proper and well maintained multi-storied market complex in the present vegetable market at Jail Road. For this, the Government decided to construct temporary sheds in the nearby Sadaya Charan Das Lane (SCDL). However, the decision has not gone well with the residents of the locality.
The chairman of the Jail Road Welfare Committee and local headman SK Dhar on Monday said, ” We wanted the temporary shed to come up near the petrol pump.”
When asked the reason for opposition, the headman said that after the sheds were constructed, the junction has become more congested and moreover there are two schools located in the area. “People cant even work in the area,” he said.
Earlier, Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh had asserted that the construction of the market complex at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Square (NSCBS) in Jail Road and subsequent relocation of the fish market is a pro-people initiative of the Government.
He said that the Government earlier had told them that only two sheds would be constructed to see the feasibility but without any inspection, Government has constructed more than thirty sheds in the locality.
Earlier, the Jail Road Welfare Committee (JRWC), Shillong Municipal Board and Urban Affairs Department (UAD) had carried out a joint inspection for the project.
The residents recently held a meeting to discuss the entire issue and a meeting will be held shortly to take the next course of action in this regard.
Although the residents and JRWC is not against the market complex since it will streamline the haphazardness in place now but they are against the temporary sheds which are being constructed in an area which will make the situation worst in an already clogged area. “We had even beautified the area by planting trees but all that has been damaged,” Dhar said.