By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 7: The number of vehicles hitting the roads of Shillong is increasing every year, adding to the city’s traffic woes.
Data from the State Transport Department reveal that there are 90,814 two-wheelers and 1,66,119 four-wheelers in the East Khasi Hills district with the ML05 registration code.
The data also show 48,527 four-wheeler vehicles were registered in the district between 2018 and November 2023, more than 18,000 of them in the last two years.
A total of 47,440 two-wheelers were registered in the district during the same period. For the first time, the sale of two-wheelers in the district crossed the 10,000 mark this year.
While the government has come up with a long-term measure of shifting the administrative set-up to New Shillong Township, it seems to have given up on easing the city’s traffic situation.
A traffic policeman attributed the traffic snarls in the city to the government’s inability to expand the roads or construct flyovers.
“The potholes, unrepaired for months, are also slowing down traffic and causing jams,” he said on the condition of anonymity.
A third factor is the shortage of people to manage the traffic. About 500 traffic police personnel and home guards try to deal with the situation every day, he said.
An example of poor traffic management is at Police Bazar where vehicles are allowed to park on both sides of the road, leaving a narrow space for cars to move.
Space in the busy area has also been taken up by bus, local taxi, and bike taxi operators. Police Bazar has a small parking lot but is used only for vehicles of VIPs and government officials.