SHILLONG: Be it Shillong or Guwahati, whenever a passenger is travelling to or from Guwahati, they often have to bear the trouble caused by the so-called middle men who often irritate people, many a time showing their highhandedness.
It is evident that many middlemen in Police Bazar hunt for passengers who intend to visit Guwahati to make money from them. Besides, they also show their highhandedness, especially when there is lack of vehicles going to Guwahati.
Similar is the case in Guwahati where many middlemen, who are often under the influence of liquor, are found loitering at railway stations and Guwahati airport waiting to frisk passengers in their quest for making money.
A driver who operates in Guwahati- Shillong road said that the middlemen often take money from them for bringing passengers and sometimes charges upto Rs. 50 per passenger, especially during peak seasons.
The ongoing menace of middlemen also gives a bad impression to tourists who visit the states of Assam and Meghalaya. Recently there was a minor incident at the Guwahati airport when a drunken middle man started confronting two Shillong-bound passengers on fares and it gradually turned into an ugly scuffle. However, the situation was brought under control by other drivers. Sharing his views on the menace, the president of Meghalaya Tourist Transporters Association Alexander Shanpru said that they had filed an FIR against the concerned middleman which resulted in vanishing of these middlemen for few days but then they resurfaced again as no action was taken against them.
He also added that they were helpless about the havoc being created by middlemen in Guwahati as it was not under their jurisdiction. However they urged their counterparts in Assam to take action against the middlemen, but to no avail.
