By Barnes Mawrie
When we travel on the Shillong-Guwahati, Shillong-Nongstoin or Shillong-Jowai roads, what comes afresh to our minds is the old saying “all roads lead to Rome”. The peak time both in the morning and evening, is a traffic chaos on all these roads and a nightmare for commuters. It gives the impression to any first time visitor that 80% of Meghalaya’s population is in Shillong. It is a fact that Shillong is the hub of all trade and business, of educational and administrative activities. Naturally, all people from other parts of Khasi-Jaiñtia Hills and from elsewhere flock to the city for different purposes. With time the situation is getting worse with the increase in vehicle population. The most stressed persons in the city are the traffic policemen who seem to have run short of creative thinking in order to manage the draconian traffic. If I were a traffic policeman in Shillong, I would get insane in no time. However, we fail to see that all this insurmountable problem is self imposed. It is the accumulation of decades of inefficiency and lack of planning by our governments. All our political leaders without exception, suffer from short-sightedness and poor vision. If they had vision at all, they would not have allowed our beloved city to come to such a pathetic state. Our leaders fail to realize that the ailment of our city is not from within but from without. It is the growing pressure of population that is eating away into the health and integrity of the city. Our leaders do not realize that this problem needs to be tackled at the source. No amount of cosmetic remedy will solve the issue. The constant change of routes which confuse the commuters, is the only consolation of the traffic department.
The real problem is the absence of development in the rural areas especially in the borders. Why do rural people rush to Shillong for anything and everything? It is precisely because they have nothing absolutely in their own towns and villages. If they have to find jobs, to find better education, to make better business or even to get official work done, they would have to come to Shillong.
This is why I say that “Meghalaya needs a centrifugal development”. So far development has been concentrated only in Shillong (as far as KhasiJaiñtia Hills is concerned). All the best educational institutions, all good hospitals, all shopping malls, all recreational facilities, all business opportunities and all important government departments are situated in Shillong. When we go a few kilometers away from the city, we realize how backward our State is. The creation of four new districts in 2012, has proven to be a mere political gimmick of the Congress government. When we visit these new district headquarters be it Mawkyrwat, Khliehriat, Resubelpara (with the exception of Ampati), we realize that the infrastructures are less than insufficient. How can a district be created without the necessary infrastructure in place? These district headquarters should have been well developed so as to prevent rural population running to the state capital for any purpose whatsoever. It is evident that the government is not serious about rural development. Most of our MLAs of rural constituencies are residing in their cozy homes in Shillong. I wish that such MLAs reside in their proper constituencies in the presence of their people. Perhaps that would motivate them to work with more commitment for their people.
When we come to the border areas, the situation is even more appalling. Our people who live in border areas are at the mercy of aggressors from bordering states. There are many dangers as a result of poor development in border areas. One danger is that Meghalayans who live in such miserable conditions are tempted to build rapport with the bordering states and gradually they will lose allegiance to their own state. In fact, there are many Khasis living in border areas of Assam who have registered their plots of land with Assam which consequently leads to loss of land for the state. Why they do this is because they find it more convenient to go across to Assam than to travel the back-breaking roads spending hours and hours to reach Shillong. This would not happen if our border roads are good and connectivity is well maintained. Another danger which is real and happening due to lack of rural development, is the massive migration of rural population to the city causing depopulation of these areas and consequently the influx of Bangladeshis and Nepalis etc. It is enough to look at the border areas from Khanapara to Byrnihat. The whole area is populated by Bangladeshi immigrants and you hardly see Khasis. This demographic phenomenon is gradually extending up to Nongpoh. This same demographic phenomenon is happening in other border areas, be it Shella region, Rambrai region etc. If this issue is not immediately addressed by the government, our state is going to shrink further and further (as of now we have already lost claim over much land).
What our leaders need to do today is to diversify development. It is time to turn our attention to the rural areas and save the plight of our poor people there. The government needs to create incentives to retain the rural population in their proper areas. This can be done only by shifting the focus of development to these abandoned areas. It is only then that our rural people will be motivated to remain in their areas. There is need to bring about a fullfledged development of all district headquarters so as to prevent rural population flocking to Shillong.
It is a pity that “New Shillong” is nothing much new but just an extension of old Shillong. Usually when we speak of “new townships” we perceive a “planned structure” like we see in New Kolkata or New Mumbai. Such planned projects really serve the purpose of easing the congestion in old cities. New Shillong instead is a misnomer – a kind of joke played on the psyche of the common man. At most we can say that it is a “pie in the sky” or a wishful thinking. It could have been the most practical way of easing urban population and traffic congestion. But that is not happening at all for we hardly see any sign of planned approach from the part of MUDA. It is time for our government to wake up and start acting in earnest before the situation gets out of control.