Instead of looking up towards the heavens, policy makers of Meghalaya should really consider the ground underneath their feet when it comes to ways to ease Shillong’s notorious traffic snarls, former civil servant Toki Blah has said.
Speaking to Highland Post, Blah said that the only way out for the clogged city is to go underground, as flyovers are infeasible given the lack of space. He is also less than optimistic about the proposed cable cars, which the state government recently touted.
What makes him less confident about anything built upwards is the way the dome on the new Assembly building came crashing down earlier this year.
Blah said that he will be the last person to risk taking such a ride on a Shillong cable car.
“The only way out for us is to go underground. We have the technology and it can be done,” the former IAS officer said. “If the government can go to various financial institutions for all the brainless schemes, then why not invest in such technologies that will address this problem?”
Shillong lacks planning, having grown chaotically but organically, and the roads cannot be easily widened.
“Even though a law exists that states we cannot build houses 60 feet from the centre of the road, the absence of a municipal board means we are not able to enforce the law,” he said.
To address the problems brought on by burgeoning car ownership, Blah suggested that permits should not be given to cars that are more than 10 years old. He also called for restrictions on the numbers of cars individuals can own and for more effective restrictions on where and when commercial taxis can ply.
