Traffic mess in city: HC takes govt to task

By Our Reporter SHILLONG, Sep 20: The state government on Wednesday came under heavy fire from the High Court of Meghalaya for “choosing to do nothing in the matter of easing traffic congestion”. “There is clearly a lack of political will and leadership,” the court observed in a scathing remark. The Court also directed the state to ensure that those who encroach on the road space and have altogether taken over the footpaths are kept at bay or relocated so that the available roads and the footpaths may be used by only vehicles and pedestrians, respectively. During the hearing of a PIL on traffic congestion, the bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh said that in several areas, the court has expressed concern, not only because the situation is alarming but also at the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the state to deal with the problem. The court lamented that for more than a year, meetings have been held, reports have been filed and some measures have been suggested but there has been no change on the ground; indeed, the malaise has worsened on a daily basis. “It is now par for the course that if one has to exit Shillong to take a flight from either Umroi or Guwahati more than an hour has to be kept in hand to negotiate just the Shillong part of the traffic. In the afternoon, when most schools get over, traffic in the central part of the capital city comes to a standstill. The situation improves late in the afternoon but by 5 pm it is the same story…” the court said. The court also said that though the state has bandied a report obtained from an international agency and, at the behest of this Court, IIM Shillong was also requested to look into the matter and a workshop convened, nothing seems to have come of it. The court also noted that vendors have spilled on the streets that make pedestrian travel impossible on the footpaths and leave the pedestrians to jostle with vehicles on the roads. “For the elderly and the less-abled, the Shillong road is a threat to life. Yet the government carries on as if everything is hunky-dory,” the court observed. The court pointed out that once it draws the government’s attention to a problem that has to be dealt with, it is ordinarily expected that appropriate steps would be taken but unfortunately, the state government has chosen to do nothing in the matter of easing traffic congestion, whether by regulating the same, or creating one-way streets or removing vendors and others who have no business to be on the streets or pavements. “The latest report of August 22, 2023 that had been filed speaks of 70 students in the city availing of the transport (STEM) provided by the government. Though the state gave itself a certificate by saying that there has been a substantial progress in such regard as the figure has increased from 2 to 70, the irrelevance of the measure can be gauged once it is recognised that the number of school-going students may be more than 50,000 in the city,” the order said.