SHILLONG, Sep 11: Unlike the capitals of the other north-eastern states, the development process in Shillong has been stagnant over the past few years barring a few road projects in the planning stage.
Despite having been the headquarters of undivided Assam for 98 years and the capital of Meghalaya for 49 years, Shillong lacks proper streetlighting, parking lots, public transport and other urban amenities.
Next-door Guwahati, to which the capital of Assam shifted after Meghalaya’s statehood, has developed at a rate near-impossible to catch up with, residents say.
Former Urban Affairs Minister and Laitumkhrah MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh said, “There is absolute chaos wherever one looks. The upkeep of roads is found wanting and traffic snarls are inescapable. Shillong is reeling under acute water crisis too.”
The breakdown of civic amenities has reached such a point that no one in the administration listens to complaints – whether on random parking, poor condition of road or pavements occupied by hawkers everywhere, she said.
The Congress veteran also underlined the gap between plan and execution by citing the example of the Fire Brigade junction that was planned in 2014-15 but is still a work in progress.
Former bureaucrat and social activist Toki Blah said the city and its civic amenities are collapsing slowly.
“Fact is, Shillong has had no plans on how to deal with its rapidly growing urbanisation. We have not allowed SMB to either expand or to be represented by elected members. MUDA is simply a department of Urban Affairs with no field workforce. Its plans are not implemented, it has been upstaged by the KHADC and the Dorbars of Shillong and greater Shillong don’t trust MUDA,” he said.
“We have left the management of Shillong to the Dorbars that do not have legal status. It is a mess and unless the citizens are ready for an elected municipality, Shillong’s civic infrastructure will continue to deteriorate and turn the city into one big slum,” he added.
The New Shillong Township, however, seems to be better off with broader roads but it hardly has anything else to show for development.
Shillong’s biggest worry is that of the landfill site at Mawlai Marten cannot take the city’s garbage anymore.
Former Home Minister R.G. Lyngdoh said Shillong started off as a set of villages that grew over time to become what it is today. Apart from lack of planning, he said the city has suffered from encroachment into public spaces with officials choosing to turn a blind eye.
“In the late 1970s, the then DC managed to clear the squatters from the Dhankheti area of Shillong. But attempts to clear the squatters from along the banks of the Umkhrah in Polo area failed because of political interference,” he said. Encroachment of footpaths and crossroads by hawkers has added to the city’s problems, Lyngdoh said.
“The New Shillong project has to be taken seriously, and there should be proper care and planning in developing the township,” he said.
Recently, Governor Satya Pal Malik had lamented that people in the state come to him seeking everything but development.
