SHILLONG: Those collecting fee at the various Government-owned parking lots in city seldom let a vehicle slip by thus ensuring that there is no revenue leakage at least as far as the collection part is concerned.
However, it’s another thing altogether that the money collected thus does not seem to go one bit into the maintenance of the parking lots.
The condition of all the Government owned parking lots in the city is shabby at best.
A visit to these parking lots of the town reveals how badly they are managed with cleanliness put at the bottom of the maintenance pyramid.
While the condition in MUDA parking lot at Khyndailad is the best of the worst, the parking lots at Anjalee, Iew Mawlong and Lumdiengjri are in total shambles.
With no light and dustbins around, the parking lots become filthy and at times even a den for anti-socials.
The very first look at the parking lots reveals that there has been no maintenance whatsoever form the day of their inauguration.
In addition, the toilets in the parking lots are found to be very dirty and only people who are in distress to attend the nature’s call visit such washrooms.
At a time when the entire country is going gaga over Swachh Bharat campaign, the initiative is a far cry in the parking lots of the city which are also over congested struggling each day to accommodate the rising number of vehicles.
The situation is especially grim in the main commercial areas of Shillong which are jostling for space.
Under such circumstances, the existing parking lots, which are few and far between, can hardly match the city’s growing demands.
It is learnt that the Government is holding talks with some land owners to provide their land for the construction of new parking lots in the city but no success has been achieved so far.
Attempts were made to get the comments of the Government officials on the poor condition of parking lots but they could not be reached.
