SHILLONG, Dec 19: The installation of individual postpaid and prepaid meters at the multi-storied Polo market complex by the MeECL will be taken up after the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) has made the necessary payments.
When contacted, a senior government official on Sunday informed that the transformer for the market complex has already been installed by the MeECL.
“The SMB will need to pay some amount to the MeECL. By January, we will be depositing the amount. After this, the installation of the meters in various stalls will start,” the senior official said.
He informed that the allotment of the 297 stalls in the market complex has already been made.
“Majority of the stalls had been allotted to the people who have shops in the previous municipal market where the shopping complex has come up but I am not very sure about the allotment of stalls for roadside vendors,” the official said.
“Perhaps all the roadside vendors will be allotted stalls once the new market place which is constructed under the smart city project is completed. But in the present shopping complex, I don’t think there is any arrangement or agreement,” the official stated. It may be mentioned that the residents of Jail Road and Polo area had claimed that they were promised that the shops would be allotted to all roadside vendors including the shops in the middle of the road but, nothing has happened till date.
This creates traffic jams in the Polo area which sometimes can take over an hour to ease.
“We enquired from the SMB CEO, BS Sohliya and found that a transformer from MeSEB is already installed and the electricity connection has already been given. But the individual meters in all the shops are yet to be installed. It is because of this that shop owners could not shift to the market complex,” they said.
The residents of Jail Road and Polo area also questioned how much time it will take to fix the individual meters.
They said they had learnt that shops have already been allotted to the roadside vendors but they could not confirm.
