LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Will shifting the military base be an answer to Shillong’s Traffic woes?
| Oct 10, 2017, 15:03 IST
Dated: October 10, 2017
To
The Editor
TNT- The Northeast Today
Respected Editor,
Minister of State for Defence Subhash Ramrao Bhamre is looking at various options in relocating army bases from the city. In his visit to the city to launch the Mudra promotion campaign he briefed mediapersons on this aspect. The armed forces have always contributed to the betterment of the country and not only myself but every other Indian should be proud of their services but the tricky situation over here is once again the failure of state-centre relations on taking the final call to relocate such command bases to far flung areas and it takes a whole of lot of guts.
Shillong city is fighting the current wave of traffic snarls and expansion is a long way from the drawing board, blame it on the previous generation might be the answer but do we justify the problem by blaming the previous generation? According to my personal opinion shifting bases outside the city is always a viable plan but looking at past records the army has always known for their land grabbing tactics. We are not living in the razor's edge or threaten by urban terrorism that we need to be curbed under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA).
Decongesting the city by removing the bases will not only solve the issue at hand but also a few more buildings belonging to different heads of departments should be looked into. Within this preview the schools and colleges should start enrolling more buses for students.
The forces whether they are here to stay or not will be tough call for the Centre and when we enter election mode this time every legislator should try to look into a five year plan or else we are doomed!
Yours faithfully,
Christopher Gatphoh
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