THE VOICE

Kudos to the present government for easing the burden of citizens. We welcome the new public transport system in Shillong. Moreover, this may be a lesson for alleged errant drivers who packed their vehicles to capacity ignoring the comfort of the passengers and fleece the passengers by over charging fares from them, though they ferry them to their destinations on time. The East Khasi Hills Taxi Drivers and Owners Association should make sincere efforts to bring those errant cab drivers to book on a priority basis lest they face a major crisis in near future and local taxis become a page in history. Why should the genuine Taxi Drivers and Owners suffer for those meanders? We are responsible citizens first then commuters or anything else next who are presumably making both ends meet by overcoming the pressure of astronomical prices and fares. The powers that be are elected on the strength of the votes of their electorate, with no distinction in the power of the single vote, so whenever they do anything for the benefit of citizens, that should reach and touch each and every citizen equally. Buses are a great boon to the commuters and a good source of revenue for the government but what about the other sections of our society who are solely dependent on certain transport system for earning their livelihood? Whatever it is, we are killing our major focus by blaming each other—suggestions after suggestions are still not solving the ever growing problems of our society. The omen says we need to sit and discuss and find out an antiphon that makes us all happy.

Coming to the point, can these limited number of bus services cater to the ever growing population of the city? For this, more buses have to be pressed into service in future which will not ease commuters’ problems but aggravate. School students and office goers in particular will have to make their way through traffic snarls. Hope that school authorities and government establishments make some arrangement for the late comers. Even the dignitaries’ vehicles with red beacons can face the traffic snarls but not the emergency ambulance carrying patients. So, now we need emergency routes too. It seems solution for one begets problems for another!

By
Subash Deb