Editor,
On December 27 evening I had occasion to travel from Gauhati to Shillong along the four lane National Highway 40. It was a pleasant drive along the expressway and we reached the Quinine – Umsning stretch by about 9 pm and it was here that we noticed a disturbing peculiarity. Each two lane part of the expressway was further divided by yellow markers into two parts. This was to facilitate the free and smooth passage of vehicles travelling at different speeds in the same direction. The edge of the road is marked with a white border. There is no provision for parking within the lanes and stationary vehicles were designated to park outside the white border, leaving both lanes of the Expressway free for moving vehicles. What was disturbing to note was that both 10 wheeled and 6 wheeled trucks were found parked well inside the outer lane of the Freeway. One lane of the two lane road thus became blocked forcing moving vehicles to move only within one lane. This is a gross violation of highway rules and the surprising thing was that there was literally no police to regulate the same. There was no Highway Patrol in sight. The offending trucks were carelessly allowed to park and encroach in front of tea stalls. It was a clear traffic offence just waiting for an accident to happen. Clearly the Ri Bhoi Police will need to gird their loins if they mean business and wish to be seen as smart and effective upholders of the law.
Again for the past few days FB posts went viral with the news that along the same Expressway, somewhere beyond Umling after the toll gates, miscreants are in the habit of pouring mobile oil or diesel on the road surface to make speeding vehicles skid and crash. Thereafter a tow vehicle would miraculously appear out of nowhere and the “good Samaritan” tow truck would offer the traumatised crash victims a tow for their crashed vehicle. All for a hefty fee of course! Pictures of the damaged and crashed vehicles were also posted. Now if this is true then a serious crime with the intention towards extortion, grievous hurt and to kill has been committed. The affair needs immediate investigation and if true the culprits should be brought to book and harshly dealt with according to law. We can’t afford such dangerous criminal activities along the highway. If found untrue, then Govt and the district authorities need to assure a jittery public of the same! Anyway this letter is to alert the Ri Bhoi District authorities to the above two dangerous aspects along National Highway 40 and to request them to kindly look into the matter with all the seriousness it demands.
Easing the taxi problem
Editor,
Apropos the letter written by Avantika Sharma captioned, ‘Where are the taxis of Shillong?’ (ST Dec 25, 2018) we all fully agree with her that it is extremely difficult to get a shared taxi from Police Bazar to Jhalupara, Laban and Bishnupur area, particularly in the evening. The indigent situation she was in due to non-availability of taxi on that fateful evening is usually faced by many at one time or another.
I am writing this letter to inform people living in the said area as to, how one can cope with this problem. These days, it is seen that all the buses coming from Mawblei via Laitumkhrah are routed back through Garikhana, Jhalupara, Anjalee Petrol Pump, Rhino Hall, Barik and back to the base via Laitumkhrah. This arrangement has been made ever since the ‘No Entry’ regulation to lew Mawlong- Bara bazar Bus Stand. So, the people waiting for taxis can very well board this route bus at Police Bazar and alight at their respective destinations. As it is a taxi also disembarks passengers for Jhalupara at JRG Hospital crossing; so does the bus. The fare charged is just Rs 5 by the public bus while it is Rs 10 by private buses. As for the people living in Bishnupur area, they can disembark at Rhino Hall Point. Opposite this point there is usually a long queue of taxis waiting to ferry passengers. Why not try this recourse till Government/ The Shillong Taxi Association make some other suitable arrangements as prayed for by Avantika Sharma in her letter. No self-pity, find your way out.
Yours etc;
Krishna Chettri
Shillong-2
Who cares for the poor?
Editor,
This refers to the front-page report, “Multi-agency rescue ops begins today” (ST, December 30, 2018). It is horrifying that humanity can move at a snail’s pace when it comes to rescuing poor coal miners. Fifteen miners have been trapped in the coal mine at Ksan in the Lumthari area of East Jaintia Hills District since December 13. The mine was suddenly flooded with water seeping through from the nearby Lytein river.
The two 25-horse-power suction pumps available with the National Disaster Response Force rescue team were allegedly inadequate for the task at hand. A 100-horse-power pump was not available to pump the water out of the mine and save the lives of the poor miners. After as many as 16 days of the mishap, a contingent of Odisha Fire Service with high-power pumps have begun moving towards the mine on Friday, December 28. With NDRF playing supportive role. Odisha Fire Service, Indian Navy teams are ready for the rescue operations only on the eighteenth day (Dec 30) of the tragedy.
It appears that as there is not a single influential or rich person who is trapped inside the mine hence it takes so much time for the movement of high power pumps. As a matter of fact, even a man-eater tiger enjoys higher status than poor people if the tiger is meritorious enough not to touch a rich person! When a man-eater gets killed then there is public outcry but not for the victims it killed for they all belong to the lower strata of our society. Again, when it comes to saving the lives of poor people of our country, it can take as long as eighteen days to start necessary rescue operations. Poverty and lack of social security make poor miners go inside a rat-hole mine and poor scavengers dip into sewer water and construction workers do life-threatening jobs. And they have to take the risk to keep their body and soul together without having minimum disaster response.
This is the horizontal ground reality amidst vertical extravaganza. We have been trying to increase our vertical height by building one costly statue after another! We have spent almost Rs 3,000 crore on building the 182 metre high Statue of Unity. There are more such gigantic costly statues in the offing for our vertical growth. Such a horrifying scenario had been portrayed by Satyajit Ray in his famous film Hirak Rajar Deshe (In the Land of the Diamond King) where Hirak Raja (Diamond King) was gladly spending money on costly gigantic statues while making poor coal miners and farmers suffer.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata