By Maitphang Syiem
Let us begin with a question in general. What is it that has always annoyed and bothered us every moment we step into a private or public vehicle? If one would cogitate, there would be many striking thoughts like fuel, how clean is the windshield, how shiny is the body etc., but undeniably for a daily commuter in Shillong City whosoever it is, the first thing is to avoid the persisting unsolved hurdle which is none other than the Shillong Traffic Snag. Many have elucidated the problem and also offered their suggestions, yet the “Shillong Traffic” overpowers all of that. This issue has become like a cancer as it is cancerously growing and exponentially progressing. This is internalised by all four wheeler owners, but it is amusing that even the two wheelers are finding it difficult to manoeuvre.
There is not a single day when individuals do not criticise or discuss the infamous Traffic Jam and many would have their own perspectives. Some blame the traffic management team; some blame the road carrying capacity and some are against the controlling authorities, but even after analysing all of that, amusingly the problem persists and has become a stumbling block. It’s understood that everyone concerned is working hard to “have a light-bulb moment” and to “leave no stone unturned” but the situation demands, “Working Smartly.” When we say “Working Smartly” it means many things which perhaps cannot be adequately elucidated here. Rather, it is important to revisit history to understand how cities are formed and eventually grow thereafter.
Going back to the era of the British Raj, they colonised areas which had commercial and administrative benefits back then and eventually those areas were transformed into towns, cities etc. This pattern is seen all over India with some of the legacies seen till date. These areas have become commercial hubs, central business districts etc. If one dives deeper, somewhere the colonists have carried with them the concept of town formation with their exceptional knowledge of planning. Hence it is logical to say that the kind of town or city formation in India was not natural; it was more of a forced execution and if one observes the areas under the colonists, they appear very well planned. Some have said, the city formation for the Western World was organic, which means it was natural in them perhaps because of factors such as the Industrial Revolution and the knowledge which came from the Renaissance period, but it was not the case with the Eastern World. To reiterate my point, cities here were conceptualised by the colonisers. However, the setback was that the developmental activities of the colonists were concentrated only on those areas where their vested interests lay and not on other regions. This has created a kind of hurdle which can be termed as Urban Primacy where all activities are concentrated in only one area or where some city/town is larger than the other.
Anyone who wishes to probe more on Urban Primacy can use ChatGPT! That aside and connecting the dots with our scenario here in our Shillong City and with the kind of day-to-day activities concentrated in some urban hubs one should ask the question are we facing the issue of Urban Primacy? Is this the factor contributing to the Traffic Congestion? Of course, there are days when such unavoidable impediments pop up such as rallies, public meetings, processions et al and traffic snarls worsen in the affected pockets but in general the entire city is daily and continuously facing traffic snarls which affects our purses directly and takes away our time. If one were to do an audit of the time spent in traffic jams we have lost much valuable time and money too. Time must be utilised effectively and the connotation “Time is Money” it is indeed very true with Shillong Traffic. On a daily basis we are losing both time and money and during emergencies who knows it might cost lives too. This is a matter of grave concern for every Shillongite.
Now coming to the nitty-gritty and reiterating the afore-mentioned statement, “Working Smartly,” whosoever is putting together the brains to solve this grave issue must have an extensive understanding of Shillong City, and that understanding mustn’t be stereotyped but should have a comprehensive insights taking in all angles and if someone is planning something for tackling the traffic woes he/she should have a perspective plan which will support the carrying capacity of the city and also accommodate the exigencies which may arise in the near future and this goes for the “New Shillong Township” as well. Is this thought kept in mind?
We have seen in the recent past, many attempts were made to solve the Shillong Traffic imbroglio, but to no avail. If we are to investigate this, it would appear that solutions may have been put forth based on assumptions and not on actual ground study. If it was on assumptions, then any Tom Dick and Harry can come forward and suggest anything but will that solve the problem? It is crystal clear that many localised factors contribute to “Shillong’s Traffic Congestion,” and there are many intricacies involved in unbundling this rigmarole.
We have seen loads of suggestions such as ring road, flyovers, walking zones, UAVs etc. These are fine, but the question is whether the solutions suit our intricate existing geographical setup? It will work perfectly fine for the mainland but for our case some kind of permutation and combination of local factors and modern interventions would be needed. The planners would know better how to go about that and to execute this one should have extensive local ground facts. We have business centres all around and each of them attracts people from all directions on a daily basis (Urban Primacy). In this context “Locational Science” is important as an intervention method. We live in a world where data is an important factor for decision making so Data Science (Data Analytics) will play a supportive part and if one would fuse these with the ground local conditions perhaps we can come up with some localised solutions which are best suited to at least reduce the traffic to a certain level and gradually build up to maintain the traffic flow.
We’ve seen talks on traffic decongestion, however, in the context of Shillong Traffic, perhaps one should also think of decongesting the indirect and direct contributing factors. As it is there is no such constructive debate to find out what are these contributing factors which have become impediments on the road. Now coming to the traffic flow, it is noticeable that if there is anything which is obstructing the road, it will affect the entire connecting road networks and the vehicular flow which sometimes is at a standstill and adds to the frustration. Maintaining the flow is something that needs to be looked at intensively. One should also ask what are the other intricate factors which are contributing to the obstruction of traffic flow. As it is, the major bottleneck and choke points of the city are clearly visible but why have they become bottlenecks? What are the factors that make them become bottlenecks is something that must be debated.
For now, summing up all reasons and factors perhaps Shillong’s Urban Primacy requires intervention.
(The writer is a Geospatial Technology Expert and all views are personal)