A city tangled in fibre
A routine work carried out by the MeECL in parts of the city has given rise to a mundane yet perilous issue. Over the past week, MeECL staff replaced several old and rusty electric poles in Mawbah area, Police Bazar and other places. During the replacement work, the MeECL staff removed all the optical fibre cables of Jio and Airtel which were casually tied to the electric poles.
After MeECL replaced the poles, Airtel and Jio staff reconnected the fibre cables by mostly arranging for new wires. As a result, torn wires were strewn across roads and sidewalks and they remain in that position till date.
These coils of wires and plastic debris add to the clutter, while pedestrians, two-wheelers and cars are left to navigate the mess cautiously.
While MeECL cannot be blamed for doing their job, network providers like Airtel and Jio have been found lacking in clearing up their mess.
In 2024, MeECL had issued warnings against hanging loose optical fibre cables on electric poles, citing an open defiance of a Meghalaya government order banning such use. The directive aimed to prevent overloading poles and reduce hazards, pushing telecom providers to shift to underground cabling or dedicated infrastructure. Companies like Airtel and Jio have been actively replacing old overhead wires with new fibre optic lines to expand broadband services in the region. However, in their haste to modernise and reach out to more customers, they often carelessly dangle the fibre cables as per their convenience. Sometimes, the cables have to be replaced and the old ones are left abandoned, sometimes dangling or discarded on the ground. This “replace but don’t remove” approach is turning an eyesore for residents.
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Inside Mawprem’s growing urban squeeze
Commuters navigating the narrow corridor from Upper Mawprem toward Garikhana and Jaiaw faced a gridlocked week as PWD pipe-laying turned a notoriously tight route into a virtual standstill. While Sunday provided a brief reprieve, the preceding days left motorists trapped on a stretch where the extreme narrowness makes U-turns nearly impossible.
The area near Persara School serves as a stark example of Shillong’s urban congestion, with the road narrowing to a point where two vehicles cannot pass simultaneously. This spatial crisis is compounded by a local irony: the neighbourhood likely hosts more “No Parking” signs than any other in the city, yet remains lined with parked cars and two-wheelers due to a total lack of dedicated parking facilities.
While residents remained cooperative despite the constant roar of heavy machinery, the PWD maintained a rapid pace, digging and laying pipes in single-day segments. However, the project is far from over.
The trenches have currently been refilled only with soil, leaving a hazardous ditch running down the centre of the road. Until the PWD returns to resurface the stretch and provide a final “facelift,” the temporary relief of the weekend is expected to give way to further congestion and dust.
