SHILLONG, May 3: There is not much to brag about when it comes to urban infrastructure in Shillong, the state capital, which is far from satisfactory.
The Meghalaya government is said to be taking forward steps towards turning Shillong into a smart city but it has many drawbacks to address, one of which is absence of streetlights.
Apart from busy areas like Police Bazar and Motphran, many areas in the city continue to be engulfed by darkness, thanks to the unavailability of streetlights. Even the area outside the highly-secured Raj Bhavan is pitch-black at night in the absence of streetlights.
Now, there is a catch; if there are streetlights installed, it either becomes defunct or faulty over time. Then they are left at the mercy of authorities, who seemingly turn a blind eye to any maintenance.
At the IGP junction, where many offices including the Secretariat and SP’s office is located, the landscape turns dark once the evening sets in.
Moreover, some high-mast lights were installed at Rhino point and even Rilbong point few years ago.
But once these lights went kaput, nobody stepped up for their repair and these remain non-functional till date.
The Barik junction, which remains packed with vehicles in the evening, is illuminated by only streetlight.
The only areas in Shillong which seem to be well-lit are Pynthorumkhrah and Golf Links where few high-mast lights have been installed and streetlights were also installed recently in the stretch of Shillong Golf Course.
In the last two decades or so, only few junctions — at Khyndai Lad, Laitumkhrah, Motphran and Civil Hospital — have been renovated, while the improvement of Nongthymmai junction, which was going on for the past few years, is finally complete but lights are yet to be made functional there too.
In addition, other major junctions like Polo, Lumdiengjri and Jylli Shop continue to remain small and congested while the flow of traffic is quite huge in these areas.
It is pertinent to note here that the Meghalaya High Court is hearing a matter pertaining to streetlights in Shillong.
A resident of Laitumkhrah has raised the issue of non-functional streetlights in the locality and other parts of the city with the High Court.
The MDA government, after coming to power, has often talked about creating small bypasses in the city to reduce traffic jams. However, the proposed projects are still in the pipeline.
In the last decade, no major parking lot has been constructed in Shillong. However, few new parking lots in Motphran and other areas are in the offing.
Another issue plaguing the city is the lack of parking space, which is evident in the fact that hundreds of vehicles are parked on the road throughout the city at night.
When it comes to public transportation in Shillong, there are not many options for the public barring local taxis and city buses. In the morning and evening, people can be seen waiting, sometimes for nearly an hour, to board taxis while some cabbies continue to act according to their whims.
Rapido had initially come as a major help for the people to commute during traffic jams in the city, but the captains of the company of late lately have been found demanding extra money for trips, which has ultimately discouraged many people from booking a Rapido ride.
