Roads in every part of Shillong are littered with craters not potholes. The same roads have been repaired just a year ago. Judging by the short lifespan of the roads it would seem that the engineers of the State Public Works Department have no idea at all about roadmaking. And going by the shabby manner of the recent interviews to recruit skilled personnel for this department, it appears that the Government is not keen to recruit the best but to weed them out instead and appoint lesser competent engineers in their place. The Government of Meghalaya is fortunate that the state does not have a culture of protests for public issues. Groups protest for their own interests and agenda but not for public interest. Elsewhere, people would have made their grievances heard through public gatherings at vantage points or would have approached the court of law since many of these roads inside the capital city are a threat to those with back problems and pregnant women. In Shillong heavily loaded, trucks all of them carrying above the nine tonnes permissible limit are allowed to pass through localities at great risk to the lives of pedestrians since large sections of the roads here have no footpaths.
Police have a problem of impounding trucks that violate the permissible load limit within Shillong city because there are no weighbridges and they cannot enforce the law without the basic infrastructure in place. Take the road from Demthring through Lapalang to Umpling and on to Itshyrwat and beyond to the New Shillong Township. The number of dumpers carrying boulders and plying through this tiny stretch of road has turned the entire road length to develop craters that are posing dangers to smaller vehicles, particularly two-wheeler drivers. These are issues of great concern but does anyone care? Everything is normalised and the Deputy Chief Minister in Charge of PWD is retained after the reshuffle despite the sordid condition of roads across Greater Shillong. In any other state a non-performing PWD Minister would have found himself divested of the portfolio but here a reshuffle in the cabinet which should be based purely on performance is instead executed for political purposes only – to keep the political scales from tilting. How can the people of Meghalaya ever expect good governance when poor and decadent governance is rewarded while those who perform are divested of their ministerial berths?
Citizens have the right to good roads because they are a basic necessity as much as water supply and power supply are. Yet these basic rights continue to be deprived even within the capital city, not to speak of the back of beyond in Meghalaya where water pipes have been laid two years ago but water is yet to reach the citizenry. But people continue to remain long-suffering and wallow in helplessness. This is where public platforms are important for people to voice their angst and where every voice is respected irrespective of community. A divided citizenry is fair game for politicians and governments. It is when people come together for a cause that governments begin to take citizens seriously and not play around with their patience. Time for a public audit of Shillong roads and ask why they don’t last beyond one season. That should follow action such as blacklisting the defaulting contractors and penalising the engineers certifying the completion of the road project.
