EKH DC says study found local cabbies, buses main cause of traffic jam in Shillong; Odd-even system has eased congestion

Shillong, June 12: East Khasi Hills (EKH) Deputy Commissioner (DC) RM Kurbah on Monday said imposition of the odd-even system on public transport vehicles has helped ease traffic congestion in the city.

Speaking to media persons, Kurbah said that the decision was strictly based on the order passed by the Meghalaya High Court, which has mentioned two locations – Khyndailad and Motphran.

“I did not say the odd-even system will be (imposed) in the rest of the town but only in specific areas because of the space constraints. So, the order has been passed and we have seen that it has helped (in easing the traffic congestion),” she said.

The deputy commissioner also informed that the district administration will start conducting checks this week against any violation of the order. The odd-even system has been imposed with effect from June 5.

“We have not gone strictly because I received a letter from these people like they wanted to go to the court so they are challenging the court order. So I was waiting for a kind of reaction on that but we will definitely this week do some checking,” she said.

When asked, Kurbah said, “Since we have seen the traffic in that two areas have really gone down but it improves when we start imposing that order, we will definitely try from our level to start imposing that order from tomorrow and see that the road congestion decreases.”

On the question raised on why not the odd-even system be extended to private vehicles as well, the deputy commissioner however said that a study conducted by the district administration did not find that the private vehicles are causing the traffic jams in the two areas.

She said that the study had in fact found that the public transport vehicles are causing the traffic congestion at Khyndailad and Motphran areas, because of space constraints they rotate in the same place.

“So if we leave half of them away from the road then there will be space for everyone to go and, mind you, it is not the private vehicles which are causing the traffic because they are not standing anywhere, they are moving. Therefore, we cannot compare why we are doing this only for the local taxis,” Kurbah added.

Meanwhile, the DC also assured to look into the exorbitant fares charged by the taxis and public transport vehicles despite the end of Covid pandemic period.