SHILLONG, Feb 18: Once known for its soothing environment that earned it the ‘Scotland of the East’ moniker, Shillong is on the verge of becoming another chaotic city in the country.
Meghalaya’s capital is growing fast but the urban infrastructure and amenities have not been upgraded accordingly. The city lacks a modern public transport system, good roads, parking lots, and proper street lights to name a few.
At Keating Road, just a few metres from Khyndai Lad, there is hardly any space for even pedestrians to walk while vehicles need the covered grains to inch forward. The internal roads of Nongthymmai are no different.
Police Bazar, declared a litter-free zone years ago, sports trash today despite municipal employees reportedly sweeping the streets.
A few roads have a pavement on one side for people to walk while many roads do not have any footpath at all.
Vehicles parked on both sides of most roads across the city leave very little passage for the traffic. A sizeable number of two and four-wheelers being added to the city’s traffic every week is making things grimmer, although none of these are e-taxis or those under ridesharing firms such as Ola and Uber as in other cities.
A senior government official said the situation could be managed after a large chunk of land is acquired in New Shillong Township and adjoining areas to expand the city. The expansion could be till Sohryngkham and Mylliem.
