The once clogged Khyndailad area in Police Bazaar is now slowly becoming a pleasant environment for walking. The State government has made a beginning to turn the area a pedestrian-friendly zone by relocating the street vendors and hawkers and could as well ensure that the pedestrian space is not infringed upon by passing motor vehicles and two-wheelers inside Police Bazar.
While rights of hawkers and street vendors is left for the authorities to address in the right platform bearing the fact that their relocation was not an easy-peasy task, it is now imperative that transporters should not impinge on the rights of pedestrians because they need to walk in peace for a relaxed body and mind.
After the relocation citizens are now dreaming of a lively pedestrian-only stretch in the city just like MG Marg in Gangtok. Shillong has a long way to go to achieve what the Himalayan state has, to offer a compelling model of not just cleanliness and efficient mobility. If Shillong has to turn into a “livable, clean, green, inclusive, modern, safe and citizen friendly and well governed city” as envisioned by the Smart City Project, poor drainage system must be addressed, haphazard layout of water pipes and replacing interlocking bricks inside Police Bazar (easily prone to wear and tear), and others are essential. With zero public toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in Police Bazar, except for one inside the MUDA shopping complex, which is seen as not sufficient to the amount of people using it, the government could think of an AI-based smart toilet. The GS Road no doubt was enhanced with the inherent beauty of flowers but this diminishes when they are juxtaposed with litter, pollution, or spitting stains. If benches inside the Police Bazar are on the list, authorities have to also ensure that the place is void of anything that might not invite someone to stick around, even for street buskers to use the space.
What is now left is to relocate more vendors from various areas like Barik, Dhankheti, Fire Brigade-GS Road, Governor House, Ïew Mawlong, Laban, Jail Road, Lachumiere, Laitumkhrah Fire Brigade, Lumshatsngi, Malki, Motphran, Polo, Qualapatty, Quintton Road, Red Cross, Umsohsun, Wahthapbru, and Ward’s Lake. The Khyndailad relocation process saw resistance and chaos and if such is expected from other quarters in the next phase, especially Motphran, remains to be seen. What the public remains steadfast in its demand is that street hawkers and vendors can’t take over footpaths and public roads. If authorities go strictly by the book balancing urban development with the vendors’ right to earn a living they will be able to conquer the chaos and create a more inclusive and vibrant urban environment.
