So-called ‘VIP culture’, specifically where one rule seems to apply to VIPs on the road and a different one to the common man, has continued to come under sustained attack from various quarters.
The current umbrage arose after a motorbike rider was killed in a road traffic accident involving a vehicle in a minister’s convoy while the latter was proceeding to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Bhoirymbong on Friday.
While initial reports appeared to blame the police vehicle in the convoy, the minister who was travelling in it, Paul Lyngdoh, has suggested that the biker was to blame.
Wherever the blame lies, members of the public have been up in arms against the use of sirens that enable VIPs, not just politicians but also judges, military officials and civil servants, to push ordinary citizens out of the way so that they can speed through Shillong’s otherwise awful traffic.
Lyngdoh, however, today said, without using the exact phrase, that politicians are damned if they do use the sirens and damned if they don’t.
He explained that it is the public that want their legislators and ministers to be visible and attend different functions, both public and private. These can add up to several a day in different parts of the city or state and it would be impossible to attend all of them if they cannot use a siren to get to them in time.
If no sirens were used, the VIP would end up spending an inordinate amount of time in traffic, thereby delaying events and further causing angst and stress to the people present, or miss them altogether, when they might then be accused of haughtiness.
“They invite us to all occasions, expect us to be present at all funerals and all weddings, and to attend and also see patients in various hospitals. They expect us to be on time for all programmes and they expect us to also not use sirens. So, how do you stay in traffic and not reach the programmes on time?” questioned the minister.
When asked if ministers should ensure that they give plenty of time to travel when arranging their schedule and leave early from their homes or offices to attend functions without having to resort to sirens, Lyngdoh retorted that only the person who wears those shoes will know where it pinches.
