SHILLONG: Touted as “Times square”, the much awaited Polo market under Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) with 297 shops was inaugurated on Thursday by SMB Minister Hamlet Dohling.
Delivering his speech at the programme, he thanked the previous government for coming up with the project but maintained that it was not an easy walk for the present government to complete the project.
It may be mentioned that the project was started on March 1, 2017 and the date of completion is December 31, 2019 at a sanctioned cost of Rs 21.41 crore.
Dohling said that there were many financial constraints and litigation filed by the vendors in completing the project which was sanctioned in the year 2010-11. He maintained that the MDA government has followed up on pending projects and met the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri twice requesting him to release the remaining amount of funds required to complete the project.
Apart from the Polo market project, Dohling also informed that the Government has followed up on a number of pending projects under the Urban Affairs Department which has resulted in the completion of composting plants in Tura and Nongpoh and also the ISBT in Tura.
He further added that the process of replacement of the incinerator at Marten ground and the setting up of common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facilities are in progress. Besides these, an amount of Rs. 75 Cr has also been sanctioned for the construction of a new polo market adjacent to the new market complex and is expected to be completed in the next three years.
“I hope that the project gets completed within 3 years. We intend to make our activities transparent”, he said.
The minister said that the people should keep up with the aspiration of the government to keep the Polo market clean.
Minister of Health and Family Welfare A.L.Hek said, “We are one step ahead to make it a times square of Shillong”.
He added that to make it a ‘Times Square’, the hearts of the people should have the desire to make it clean and not to rub lime or spit in and around the place.
Local MLA Adelbert Nongrum, however, stressed that the shopkeepers who he term as educated youth should not give away the stalls to other unauthorized people.
“When unabated influx takes place, will the government, the shnong or the individual be blamed?” he said.
The Polo Market complex is a state of the art building designed to rehabilitate road side vendors and hawkers of Polo Bazaar.
The Polo market is funded by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The plot area of the market is 3000 sq.m.
The different list of stalls are vegetable shops, fish stalls, pork stalls, beef stalls, chicken stalls, tea stalls, grocery, pan/kwai (betelnut) shop, mutton stalls etc. On the day, deeds of agreement and shop keys were also handed out to a few of the shopkeepers.