A positive citizen’s initiative
On Saturday the residents of Jail Road came out to lend a hand in beautifying their locality. The lead was taken by Jiwat Vaswani of Team Jiva.
Hydrangea plants were planted by the roadside while some trees too found space in between. This idea needs to be replicated across the city because it involves civic action.People complain a lot when they see garbage being dumped in localities but no one speaks about these citizen initiatives.
The residents of Jail Road said they will now take ownership of the area and keep it as neat as possible. They will also get the younger people and children involved as this will also be an education for them. This being the monsoon season, anything planted is bound to do well with a bit of care. Jail Road might soon become a beautiful part of Shillong and a model locality.
Dug-up roads
It is quite common to see dug-up roads across Shillong. Some stretches of these roads often catch commuters and motorists off guard, resulting in uncomfortable bumpy rides and a word or two for the unconcerned authorities. What infuriates the public most is that workers dig up roads for pipe and cable laying works and leave it that way for a painful duration of time.
One such situation has come to the notice of the SJ team. The road near Garrison Ground has been dug, perhaps for laying cables or water lines, and left ignored for more than a fortnight.
Considering this is the monsoon season, visibility is relatively low and most people don’t even realise that the road has been dug up. This brings up the question: What delays the restoration of the roads after they’re dug up?
P.S.: The road near Garrison Ground has been repaired, albeit shoddily.
