SHILLONG, March 22: The ever-increasing traffic congestion around Shillong’s education hub has revived the call for making it mandatory for students to travel to and from school in buses.
The call has become stronger after the failure of the experimental one-way traffic arrangement in Dhankheti-Laitumkhrah-Fire Brigade section, which was recalled on Tuesday.
Former Home Minister, RG Lyngdoh said there is a need to make school buses compulsory for all students regardless of the status of the parents. Schools and parents who defy this should be summoned by the courts.
Stressing the need for letting entrepreneurs run parking lots with a regulated parking fee, he said at least one multi-level parking should be set up in each zone of the city.
“Regulate the bus and taxi fares as well as embarking and disembarking points at convenient places. Court notice should be issued to passengers and vehicle operators that break these rules. Double and triple parking of taxis at stands should not be allowed,” he said.
Lyngdoh also said specific areas with enough space for hawkers should be allocated.
“There is a need to train and appoint traffic wardens from the locality to assist school children, pedestrians and the traffic police in catching and punishing offenders. No parking along the road should be strictly enforced.
Vehicles dropping consumer goods to shops may be allowed during specific times with special permits,” he said, adding that no one, even VIPs, should be allowed to overtake during rush hours.
“There should be a complete ban on sirens and red lights, as a Supreme Court order says. Nobody should be above law,” he said.
Former Urban Affairs Minister, Paul Lyngdoh batted for the mandatory school bus system too. But he felt the government should lead the way.
“The government needs to shift its offices to the New Shillong Township. All tourism-related commercial vehicles should be halted at ISBT,” he said, advocating the shifting of the MUDA market for Ri-Bhoi and Iew Mawlong to the city suburbs.
“The flyover proposal from Rap’s Mansion to Sweepers’ Lane should also be revived,” he added.
Retired IAS officer, Toki Blah blamed the “chronic” traffic jams on the narrow roads, too many vehicles and the land tenure system that prevents the government from acquiring land for widening the roads.
“Our failure to tackle the problem arises from our inability to accept two truths. Controlling traffic in urban setups is not a government responsibility. In other urban centres, it is handled by the municipality which is defunct in Shillong,” he said.
“Secondly, we have failed to approach the problem with out-of-the-box thinking. All we have looked at is road widening and flyovers. No one has considered alternate technologies employed by other hill cities with similar traffic problems. It is about time we started thinking of underground roads. The technology exists even for seismic areas such as ours,” he said.
Environmentalist Naba Bhattacharjee said the entire mobility plan of Shillong urban areas has to be redesigned to include heavy-duty cable cars with a minimum capacity of 100 passengers per coupe for the daily commute, elevated LRT on routes where possible and declaration of vehicle-free areas.
“Further, we should develop all smaller circuit and arterial roads to reduce pressure on the main roads. Above all, we should decongest the city on a war footing, shift all government and private offices with attached residential colonies to New Shillong Township,” he said.
CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing said all private and government servants, including politicians, should be directed to use public transportation.
“Traffic rules should be equal for all except for those on emergency duty but that should not be misused. There should be no sirens for VIPs,” she said.