Is hawking a menace or conundrum?
Visibly, a large chunk of roads in Shillong is taken over by hawkers; their population only growing gradually. While hawking was earlier only confined to areas like Motphran, GS Road, Qualapatty and Police Bazar, it is now seen in several other locations.
In Laitumkhrah, one side of the entire stretch starting the junction near Laitumkhrah Beat House till the police point near Nazareth Hospital is strewn with street vendors. In some instances, they even encroach on the road outside Nazareth Hospital, leaving little to no room for pedestrians, who have no other option but to walk on the road with moving traffic.
If you visit Laitumkhrah, you’ll realise that the side of the road where hawkers operate has been designated as two-wheeler parking zone. But after a gap of some number of two wheelers, there is at least one hawker stationed. By evening, the situation reaches its saturation point.
You may find a parking spot, only if you’re lucky.
On the other hand, city hospitals have off late become a haven for hawkers. Primarily, the Civil Hospital at Barik, Nazareth Hospital at Laitumkhrah, and Woodland Hospital at Dhankheti are the places where hawking is rampant.
Since the flow of people in and around hospitals is almost consistently high, it allows hawkers to do brisk business.
But one cannot undermine the fact that overcrowding the vicinity of a hospital can possibly prove to be a hazard during emergencies, especially when it comes down to critical situations, where a minute sooner or later can make all the difference in saving a life.
So, who is to blame? The hawkers, who may by now seem villainous, but just want to earn a livelihood or the authorities who seem to be in a deep slumber or a fix themselves after taking a shot at finding a solution?
State’s leaders and even ministers have in the past inspected different areas of Shillong in a bid to find an effective resolution to this conundrum. But years have passed, and the government continues the hunt.
Hawkers would be relocated; this was once said, and pursued by the government but to no avail as yet.
Only recently, it was reiterated by Paul Lyngdoh, a state minister.
He had expressed the government’s intent to shift the hawkers from the stretch of Police Bazar by October this year so as to make the area pedestrian-friendly.
October is less than a month away. What do you think will happen? Will it be done? Or a diplomatic announcement of postponement of the hawkers’ relocation will come next month? Only time will tell.
