The VIP chariots roll
As elected representatives gathered for a five-day Assembly session to discuss the issues plaguing the lives of ordinary citizens, the concerned found themselves stuck in never-ending queues, their hours slipping away as they hoped to reach their destinations fashionably late, with readily available excuses — ‘The Assembly Session.’
The city’s notorious VIP culture is well known. The big question on everyone’s minds: What’s the solution to this quarterly gridlock when Important Persons and Very Important Persons flock to discuss state policies while average Marbaniangs and Sangmas are left fuming in traffic?
The traffic chaos was so surreal that even the usually two-wheelers, who often weave their way through the narrow lanes were stuck.
Now, here’s an idea that’s been floating at the local tea stalls – what if our elected representatives ditched their fancy escorted vehicles and embraced the two-wheelers, with or without petrol for their daily commutes?
Not just as a protest gesture, but as a regular means of transport. It could be a win-win situation – less taxpayer money spent on VIP transport, and a firsthand experience of the traffic woes faced by the average citizen.
City roads no safer
Firstly, there are VIP vehicles running amok on city roads, and then there are these daredevils, who zoom past traffic in their scooters, jeopardising lives, including theirs. Roads in Shillong perhaps are still unsafe.
After the accident near Anton Hall in Laitumkhrah, wherein a speeding bike hit a boy recently, the police upped their game conducting checking in different parts of the city to thwart reckless riding.
However, a month after the incident, the situation is back to its previous state — roads sprawling with young riders, many of them most likely underage and without driving licence.
Notwithstanding the traffic congestion, these scooterists twist the throttle hard as they change lanes while weaving dangerously through vehicles in tight gaps.
Road accidents in Meghalaya in the past three years have claimed the lives of nearly 500 people while the traffic police in Shillong seems to be only concerned about ensuring quick passage for VIPs.
Since there is almost no checking these days, anyone is cruising on the streets without an iota of fear.
Although the lack of checking has been attributed to the crisis of personnel, the concentration of police personnel deployed for the smooth conduct of the Assembly session spoke a different tale.