SHILLONG, Aug 7: Shillong’s traffic congestion problem has been compounding every year with no solution in sight.
The Shillong Times tried to analyse the possible factors behind the traffic jams in the city.
A major factor is the slow movement of old, heavy vehicles carrying people, goods, sand, and other construction materials.
Such vehicles virtually crawl while negotiating steep roads and bends in the city, forcing smaller vehicles to line up behind them. Overtaking the slow-moving trucks or buses is a challenge for the smaller vehicles at stretches such as the road from Nongthymmai to Mawblei and from Mawlai to Jhalupara.
Parking of private and commercial vehicles on several roads is another factor. A two-storey parking lot at Lumdiengjri notwithstanding, almost half the stretch of the road from Motphran is occupied by parked vehicles. A portion of the stretch from GS Road to Lumdiengjri is used for parking two-wheelers.
A third reason is the tendency of the taxi operators to stop anywhere, including busy junctions as in the cases of Khyndailad and Motphran, to pick up passengers.
Potholed and ill-maintained roads that slow down the vehicles are also a factor. Some of such roads are from Lachumiere to Dhankheti Point, Mawlai Mawroh to Umshing, and Nongthymmai near IIM-Shillong to Madanrting.
The worst periods for traffic in the city are during school and office hours, particularly when parents park their two and four-wheelers haphazardly while dropping off or picking up their wards. The government did introduce school buses but the initiative did not have many takers.
Urban planners blame the state’s land tenure system for the government’s inability to acquire land for expanding the roads in the city. Plans to construct flyovers at strategic stretches of the city have also not materialised for this reason, they said.
Flyovers from Rap’s to Bimola and from Oakland to Polo were conceived long ago. The government is now pursuing one in the Military Hospital area.
Even the Shillong Traffic Police (STP) is facing an uphill task to regulate traffic since it is marred by shortage of manpower.
Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Dara Aswaghosh said that the existing strength of the STP is 299 but the number is effectively less since some traffic personnel are on leave.
“Currently, there are 275 personnel manning the traffic in around 70 locations across the city in two shifts,” Aswaghosh said.
“There are 104 home guard personnel assisting the STP in manning the traffic and we have got approval to avail the services of another 96 home guard personnel but they are yet to join,” he said, while adding that STP is doing its best to regulate the traffic despite its limited manpower.
