Rollback will severely affect students: Jemino

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sep 17: United Democratic Party (UDP) general secretary and former Nongthymmai legislator Jemino Mawthoh has opined that rolling back the decision to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) will have serious ramifications for the students’ community of the state.

“Reverting or roll back of decision will have serious ramifications for the student community. Let us put the interest of the students first,” Mawthoh said in a statement issued today.

This came in the wake of the demand made by the North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) and Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) to roll back decision to implement the NEP.

“With the State Education Commission in place, we can articulate the problems and concerns shared by all institutions and stakeholders and then move forward,” he said.

Stating that almost all colleges have gone ahead with the implementation of the NEP, Mawthoh said, “Principal’s council have agreed upon the implementation. No colleges have sought for deferment of implementation.”

“I share the concerns of other stakeholders and teachers organisation as they are genuine but we need to iron out the difficulties faced by institutions,” he said while adding “In a transition there will be problems, but we need to take up the challenges head on. We cannot afford to lag behind.”

Further, Mawthoh said that considering the dismal performance in the education sector, “we need to take this opportunity to capitalize from crisis into opportunity”.

He said the State has not been able to implement Choice Based Credit System at the undergraduate level since 2016 adding “And, therefore, we have less major papers as  compared to other institutions in the country.”

“Students seeking admission in other states finds difficulty due to this and also difficulty in appearing for CUET and other competitive exams. Therefore, undergraduate needs reforms,” the former legislator said.

“If we have to build a house, we should not wait for the roads, electricity, water connection to come first. We build the house and simultaneously push for the road, water, electricity..this is always the case of Meghalaya,” he added.

State’s power woes to improve: MeECL

The Managing Director of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeELC) Sanjay Goyal has assured that the power situation in the state, which is witnessing eight-nine hours of load-shedding, will improve in the days to come.

“Let me assure you that this situation is going to improve in the days to come,” Goyal told reporters today while responding to a query on the steps taken to lift the load shedding.

“We are expecting some more power from other sources but that might not come very soon. Maybe in the days to come and with some rainfall which we are expecting as per information, we will get production from Leshka and we will try to reduce the (hours of) load shedding,” he added.

He also appealed to the public to understand that the state is going through a tough time due to shortage of power and the corporation is making all-out efforts to address the issue.

Goyal informed that as of now there is a gap between the availability of power and the demand which is there in the state.

“The demand is roughly touching around 250 MW and the availability is roughly around 170 MW which is from our own generation as well as our entitlements from the central generating units – from the NEEPCO, NTPC and from Agartala based power plant,” he said.

“To some extent, we are trying to fulfil (the demand) from the open market corporation which we talk about like purchase of the power and some of it is since we are not able to go to that extent of the purchase of the power because of it is quite costly during the certain period of the day so we are going for the load shedding,” he added.

Goyal said load-shedding is being imposed around 8-9 hours even as he added that “we are trying to reduce in the days to come and we will see if we can procure some cheaper power from the open market.”

The Managing Director further said that shortage of water has greatly impacted the generating units of the Myntdu Leshka Hydro Electric Project as it is off-production for the last 5-6 days adding that “accordingly the water level of Umiam is also decreasing very fast because we are excessively using this water to compensate the loss of power which is there not available through the Myntdu.”

Stating that the corporation is also purchasing power to meet the demand, Goyal said, “We are even going up to Rs 8 for purchase of power whereas the average cost of billing which the regulator is allowing us is roughly Rs 4.5. Therefore, the corporation is taking that hit of around Rs 3 per unit during the peak time.”

“We are trying to see that during the evening time we are not going for load shedding and that is the time the power available in the market is at the very high-cost rate but we are doing the operation just to ensure the supply of the power,” he added.

Goyal said, “It’s not about the failure I think that is too simplistic a statement. See we have to understand one thing, we have only one project in Meghalaya which is dependent on the pondage which is the Umiam. We have a huge reservoir which takes the water all through the year and it is during this lean period we use this water right from the month of November onwards till the month of April or May till the time we get rainfall during the monsoons.”

He said the three units of Myntdu Leshka are being operated during peak monsoon and are generating 126 MW of power.

Synshar files nomination, confident of victory

Candidate of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Synshar Kupar Roy Lyngdoh filed his nomination today and expressed confidence to win the Sohiong seat in the upcoming election slated to be held on May 10.

Synshar was accompanied by UDP chief Metbah Lyngdoh, party leaders and supporters at the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

The election in Sohiong was adjourned following the demise of his uncle and former home minister and contesting candidate of the UDP, (L) HDR Lyngdoh on February 20.

Synshar will be contesting against NPP’s Samlin Malngiang, who resigned as HSPDP MLA ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls.

Speaking to media persons, Synshar said, “Today is a special day and also an acute moment of nostalgia remembering my uncle late HDR Lyngdoh who was here two months ago filing his nomination papers. He was a popular figure and a legend in this field. His death is a big loss to the family to the party to the state.”

“I am here as his replacement. I am here as a continuation of his work and his legacy,”  he added.

Expressing confidence to win the Sohiong seat, Synshar said, “One important thing the people of Sohiong constituency are praying every day and wants to produce a lawmaker and not just a legislator, a legislator who will speak in the Assembly, a legislator who will voice out the people’s pain and grief. The youth are angry, people are watching. I am being watched as I speak. Serious bills and subjects are being moved in the Assembly like in the last session.”

He continued: “We need intellectuals to speak and debate for better laws, for the betterment, for the future, for the security, for the safety and for the welfare of the people of the constituency and the state and also for ‘jaidbynriew’.”

The UDP candidate refused to comment on the performance of the former MLA Samlin Malngiang and said, “I am looking at myself, I am confident that I will win this election.”

“My uncle had stated that he will repair the damage done by the ex-MLA and I too will be a continuation of his work, I will carry forward his legacy,” he said.

Metbah sure of victory

United Democratic Party chief Metbah Lyngdoh has claimed that the people of Sohiong will ensure victory for the party candidate Synshar Kupar Roy Lyngdoh in the upcoming election to the Sohiong seat, which will be held on May 10.

“We are very confident (to win the Sohiong seat). This is as per inputs from the people at the grassroot level, who would like to see that this time the UDP occupy the Sohiong seat,” Lyngdoh told reporters today.

He said that even people who were against the UDP in the previous elections have now made up their mind to support the candidate of the party.

Metbah said that the reason is because the people of Sohiong want to repay back their former MLA late HDR Lyngdoh for his contributions to the constituency for 25 years.

“HDR Lyngdoh was a hardworking legislator, who wanted to fulfil the aspirations of the people. Apart from his contributions, we are also lucky to get his nephew Synshar as our candidate as he has all the qualities of a good legislator,” he added.

Meanwhile, the UDP chief maintained that winning the Sohiong seat will no doubt increase the strength of the party to 12 in the 60-member House.