Editor,
On Oct 20 last I boarded a red mini bus (ML/01/7385) from IGP point going to Motphran. Since it was already 8 pm, a crowd of passengers had congregated at Police Bazar, waiting for cabs going to Jhalupara. The bus that I boarded took in all those passengers. When the bus reached Butcher’s Lane (Thembijoy point), it took an unusual left turn, and not the usual route towards Motphran. This shocked the passengers that were planning to get down at Motphran. One elderly passenger asked for his Rs10 back as he had to catch a bus/cab from that point to Motphran, as he was carrying a heavy load. The conductor blamed the driver for the unusual turn (just to avoid further questioning) and the driver directed the conductor to return the person only Rs.5 and advised the person to take the next bus.
So I patiently waited till we reached Jhalupara as I usually get down at Garikhana (via Motphran) but after all the passengers got down, the driver turned the bus to go to Police Bazar as there were many passengers bound for that destination. This provoked me to film the scene and I also started questioning the driver and conductor whether an old lady or a sick mother with her children, will have to walk in the rain on empty streets (being a holiday) if it suits them (conductor and driver). Knowing that I am comparatively younger, the conductor thought that he could just give me my Rs.10 for a cab fare from Jhalupara, which I refused, as the elderly passenger who got down at Butcher’s Lane at least deserved the same treatment. Is all this justified? Just because I had a camera capturing the entire scene, the conductor was scared.
Now my question to the concerned authorities is, are all the citizens of Shillong who board these “Government ” bus potential hostages? Can the drivers do as they like and drop us whenever it’s convenient for them?
If it was a private bus, actions could have been easily taken by the District Transport Office on submission of the video clipping and their License/Permit could have been taken away, but the sad and bitter fact is, do these “ML01” buses have a Commercial License or Permit? Do they pay the passenger taxes like any other commercial vehicles? So can we conclude that, these vehicles provided by the Government to tend to the need of the people, have the right to harass passengers and get away with it? Can one still step on a Government bus at odd hours and be certain of getting to the desired destination? Can the authorities assure us of our security and redeem our faith?
Yours etc.,
Teilang Rymbai
Shillong-2
Vincent Pala versus Mukul Sangma
Editor,
Apropos the news item, “No inclination to return to state politics” (ST Oct 23,2017), I want to tell the readers that our MP, Vincent Pala, has never contested any of the L.A Elections in the past but he has contested two Parliamentary elections in 2009 and 2014 and won both. So where is the question of his returning to state politics? If today he is interested to contest the ensuing L.A elections slated for February 2018, then that is his wish but we do not know his mind on this. If he so desires, let him contest. What is wrong in that?
However, he is more interested to contest the Parliamentary elections scheduled for 2019 from the BJP or from other parties and he has been toying with the idea for the last few years now by putting his hands here and there. We should not forget that he was accused of playing games within the Congress during the last L.A elections by propping up his own candidates in a number of constituencies for which many State Congress leaders were very angry. However, Pala is still a force to be reckoned with, because he is quite shrewd and the only stumbling block for him in the Congress is Dr Mukul Sangma who has the wherewithal. He is not only shrewd but has vast knowledge on almost all subjects and the money power, which are the most important factors to succeed in politics. The only factor that Dr Mukul Sangma lacks is credibility, integrity and the love of the people of the state, including Garo Hills. However as the famous English saying goes, “Every dog has his day”.
About Pala,s comment on the roads of West Khasi Hills in the media , I beg to differ widely on many counts. Our M.P should have been very cautious in making such comment because there are very few buyers of such comments in the media.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein
Via email
Responsible citizenship
Editor,
Through your esteemed daily, I would like to draw the attention of the Hon’ble Minister in-charge Urban Affairs Department to the water logging problem in and around Laitumkhrah area particularly the areas where schools are located. It is understood that the main cause are clogged drains and the main culprits are the parents and school children. Why parents? Because parents need to teach their children not to throw any form of waste on the road but in the plastic/wooden/bamboo bins kept especially for such waste. But first and foremost parents should stop the bad habits themselves so their kids will do the same because kids don’t follow what you say, they follow what you do. Nevertheless, since we can’t expect much from ‘highly literate’ but ‘uneducated’ people of the Scotland of the East, I would like to draw the attention of the said Minister to the problem especially during rainy seasons when water starts accumulating on the streets and school kids are unable to walk through without filling their shoes with water. This also creates vehicular traffic jam as seen especially at Loreto Convent and St. Mary’s where vehicles cannot be stopped at different spots for dropping off school children because of water accumulation but have to be dropped off at particular spots where there is less accumulation of water. Hence, the Minister in-charge is requested to kindly do the needful to clear the clogged drains for smooth flow of water and thereby help the school children. At the same time we also sincerely pray and hope that the citizens of this city learn some basic common sense and not to litter the streets. This will ensure that no drains are clogged and no waterlogging happens.
I’m sure people have heard of an ongoing campaign started a few months ago called SCC, – ‘Silent Cleaning Campaign’ (not Shillong Chamber Choir, mind you although both are amazingly incredible). This campaign was started by a young revolutionary, Nangjop Thabah who started cleaning his own locality at Jaiaw, simply because this guy believes that cleanliness is next to Godliness. He moved on to Police Bazaar along with his practical supporters (sadly these people have more virtual supporters than real life one with me being one of the keyboard supporters). The point is even though there are good Samaritans who willingly clean our streets for free, please let us not wait for them to come to our localities and pick up our garbage. Let us help them by not littering at all. Just because we don’t live in a particular locality doesn’t mean we can litter that locality. We pass through different localities daily because the only way from Point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ of our workplaces is through some locality.
Yours Etc..,
Pyntngen Nongpluh,
Shillong – 8