Editor,
The motive of giving uniforms to porters in Iewduh is to bring about some order in the manner that porters operate. It will also give the porters a sense of pride and respect for their services. But it is not understood why there is a system of discrimination on ethnic lines as it defeats the rights of every citizen of this nation, such as having shirts marked or discriminated on racial or ethnic or linguistic lines. A porter no matter which community he comes from actually takes pride in his uniform and not on discrimination. At least the KHADC could have issued ID cards instead of having markings on the shirts which is not acceptable. Perhaps they could try to devise alternative methods without creating disharmony.
Yours etc….
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong-3
Help, no parking space!
Editor,
The news headlines in The Shillong Times (Nov 3, 2014) “Vehicles choke city roads sans parking lots” has become clichéd in Shillong. The number of vehicles is on the increase while the roads have remained the same and Parking Lots are too few to cater to the vehicle explosion. Common people are left at the mercy of rules, regulations, inconveniences and discomfort put forward by the authorities from time to time. The rule says that we should ideally park our vehicles at parking lots or face penalty. Inconvenience arises when there is no place in the parking lots and discomfort when we are forced to return home even before getting our work done. The alternative is to see our vehicles being towed or clamped. The one who drives faces a lot of hardships. As of now, the best business
proposition would be to open private parking lots to cater to the burgeoning number of vehicles in the city.
What is galling is that the parking lots opposite State Bank of India, main branch and the one opposite the old Assembly Building are being arbitrarily used for auto carnivals and car melas. Why should the public be subjected to harassment just because car companies want to have their way? Who gives the car companies the permission to set up shop anywhere they want? Someone has to answer for this!
Yours etc.,
Jenniefer Dkhar,
Via email
Will the Dist Administration act?
Editor,
Several people have expressed their displeasure about being exploited by local taxi drivers. On November 3, 2014 while travelling by a local taxi with my wife from Laitumkhrah Point to Dhankheti the taxi driver demanded Rs.30. I argued that this fare was on the higher side so the driver finally asked me to pay only Rs.20 which I did. The driver took two more passengers in the back seat but I did not react since I was in a hurry to reach my destination. Under which Rule of the Motor Vehicle Act is a local taxi driver allowed to carry more than four passengers when there is clear instructions that a taxi can seat a total of five passengers? Why do taxi drivers violate this norm so blatantly without being punished? Moreover, the fare fixed by the taxi driver is not justified. Unfortunately the Government is hesitant to intervene probably because some nexus exists between the District Administration and local Taxi Owners Association. In this connection one must also mention that the movement of city buses during peak hours is not satisfactory thereby leaving enough scope for local taxis to carry more passengers than they are authorized to.
Will the concerned authority take appropriate action?.
Yours etc.,
P B Das,
Shillong-3