SHILLONG: Shillong over the years has gained popularity as one of the favourite destinations in the North East and tourist footfall has been on a steady rise.
However, there is a dark side. Literally. The Scotland of the East lacks adequate street lights.
The city embraces darkness after sunset every day, thanks to non-functional street lights across the city, much to the consternation of local residents and tourists alike.
Tourists visiting Shillong complain that street lighting in the state capital is far from adequate.
Some tourists said that they have visited Shillong in the evening and were not the bit impressed by the fact that the entry point like Mawiong, and other approaches to the town remain dark in the absence of street lights.
However, the government has recently installed street lights along the GS Road from Police Bazar road till Motphran, but intensity of the lights is too low to make any significant difference. Similar lights have also been installed on the road connecting Oakland and Polo.
Some locals also said that the foundation light, which was installed at Khyndailad probably 15 years ago, does not function to its full capacity on most occasions.
Some residents also say that street lighting is a basic requirement and most political parties promise it in their poll manifestos, but in vain.
“I as a citizen of Shillong can count the number of high-mast street lights there are, and I think the government has never focused on the idea of making Shillong look more beautiful at night,” a resident said.
Though it is seen that many street lights in the city have been repaired, a large portion of Shillong still remains in darkness either due to non-functional street lights or no street lights at all.
The situation has reached such a pass that street lights which were installed at Butcher Road have remained non-functional for almost two years now and nobody has ever bothered to repair these. ) According to the residents, though there are several important junctions in the city like the IGP point, which is just next to the Secretariat, DC oce junction, Barik junction and even the junction near the Raj Bhavan, the street lighting there is far from satisfactory and there are no high-mast lights either.
Many say that if the lighting in the city is good, it would also discourage miscreants from committing any crime, but till date, street lighting in Shillong continues to be in the condition it was a decade ago—bad.
