Parking on roads
In an attempt to maximise their revenue, overzealous parking tax collectors have taken over several parts of Shillong, allowing cars to be parked directly on the road.
The Jhalupara Cantonment areas and Boucher Road are two excellent examples of this.
Consider Boucher Road, where little room is provided for vehicles to move through while two rows of cars are permitted to park on one side of the road and another row on the other. Because the route permits two-way traffic, there is often severe congestion, especially on weekends when there is an increase in traffic in Police Bazar, GS Road, and Motphran.
Car workshops take up valuable space on the road, which causes further suffering for both drivers and passengers.
Jhalupara’s situation is a little bit different. Here, the people collecting parking fees allow heavy vehicles, such as trucks, to drive into the densely populated area during the day, causing mayhem and possibly endangering people on foot, in smaller cars, and on two wheels.
Residents of Jhalupara claim that verbal warnings to the concerned Cantonment Board officials have been ignored since they require formal complaints.
Residents claim that because the Shillong Cantonment Board (SCB) approved the tender for the parking lots, it is their duty to make sure that the fee collectors don’t break any laws in an effort to get more money.
