Extortion leading to price rise: Ardent

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 22: Opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) legislator from Nongkrem Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit today sought action against extortion of different forms which has led to the price rise of essential commodities in the state.

While raising a supplementary query in the Assembly, Basaiawmoit said the price rise is a very serious issue and to a great extent affects the common man.

“Almost every week, there is an increase in the price (of essential commodities) and the main reason of the price rise is because of many extortions that are taking place in the state. So these businessmen in order to recover have to (increase the) price (of their commodities),” he said.

In his reply, the Minister-in-charge of Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Comingone Ymbon said the issue of price rise is not only in the State and that it is being experienced all over India.

He said that insufficient food production, increased fuel prices, climate change, insufficient rain and other factors have contributed to the price rise and inflation.

He informed that the state has a district vigilant committee to check price rises and that is why the department is capturing in all three markets – Iewduh, Laitumkhrah and Rynjah – by using a mobile app with GPS on essential committees.

On the concern raised by UDP Sohiong MLA S Lyngdoh with regards to alleged plastic rice, Ymbon however said the people in the state do not know about fortified rice and they said it is plastic rice.

“However, if people are getting plastic rice kindly ask them to complain to our department,” he added.

Earlier, the minister has informed that steps have been taken by the government to keep in check the seriousness of food inflation.

The department has instructed the districts/sub-divisions from time to time to carry out raids and inspections regularly to prevent hoarding and black marketing and to increase the prosecution and conviction rate and to provide the outcome of such raids.

“Also, action is taken on reports relating to offences under Essential Commodities Act, 1955 & the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980,” he said.

“Instructions have been sent to all deputy commissioners and sub-divisional officers to constitute the district and sub-division vigilance monitoring committee to curb tendencies of hoarding and black marketing to ensure that there is no hoarding and black marketing of commodities,” Ymbon said while adding that monitoring of prices of essential commodities through price monitoring centres is done and action is taken thereupon.

No violation of Meghalaya Transfer of Land Regulation Act: CM

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 21: The resolution moved by the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) legislator from Nongkrem Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit demanding a stop to the gross violation of the Meghalaya Transfer of Land Regulation Act, 1972 was defeated by a voice vote in the Assembly today.

“The Nos have it and the resolution is lost,” Assembly Speaker Thomas A. Sangma said.

The resolution was put to vote after Basaiawmoit announced his decision not to withdraw the resolution citing dissatisfaction with the government’s reply.

Basaiawmoit said there is a violation of the Act, but the government is in a denial mode that people not covered under the Land Transfer Act are rampantly buying land in Ri Bhoi district.

“How can they purchase land when they are not residents of Meghalaya? What will the government do against such people and stop them from purchasing land in Ri Bhoi district?” he asked.

He also asked the government to issue a public notice on the definition of tribal.

In his supplementary reply, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said there has been no violation of the Land Transfer Act. “All cases (related to) non-tribal have been based on provisions of the Act,” he maintained.

Sangma further said that any individual can go to the Court if they have concerns that there is a violation of the Act.

“(Because) we have not seen any cases put forward and those cases where the court had given orders, the government has implemented those orders,” he added.

The chief minister also assured that the government will definitely examine the suggestions made by the members on how to strengthen the Land Transfer Act further.

Earlier while moving his resolution, Basaiawmoit had sought to know ‘what action has been taken against those people who are involved in the selling away of our land to the people who are not covered by the Land Transfer Act, especially the Syiem of Raid Myrwet who have voluntarily engaged in this illegal act. Moreover, what action will be taken against those Deputy Commissioner who are willingly registering these lands which are in direct contravention to the provision of the law’.

Earlier, Minister in-charge Revenue & Disaster Management Kyrmen Shylla in his reply said that it is clear that the government while processing any case of transfer, mutation, mortgage, will etc, proceeds as per the provisions laid down in the Meghalaya Transfer of Land Regulation Act 1971 (Act 1 of 1972) and the Meghalaya Transfer of Land Regulation Rules, 1974.

“As of now, no such matter of the gross violation of the Act has come to the notice of the Government,” he said while adding “I would like to impress that the intention of the government is very clear on the matter of transfer of land and that the Act and Rules are followed in letter and spirit, so as to protect the interest of the Scheduled Tribe of the State.”

VPP opposes appointment of MSCTE secretary

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 20: The opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) today opposed the government’s decision to appoint A Ali as a full-fledged secretary of the Meghalaya State Council of Technical Education (MSCTE) after her retirement.

Moving a short-duration discussion on the issue in the Assembly, VPP legislator from Nongkrem Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit alleged favouritism in the decision to appoint Ali as secretary of the MSCTE since she had once forgone her promotion to the challenging post of principal Shillong Polytechnic.

He said the number of Secretaries on dual charge till date are six (these include: Dr R.N Hazarika (Addl. Director), H.W.Tham (HOD Electrical), R. Dhar (JDHTE/Addl. DHTE),  P. Karmakar (JDHTE/Addl.DHTE), O. Ropmay (JDHTE/Addl.DHTE) and A. Ali ( JDHTE/Addl.Director)

He said there were three HODs who decided to forgo their promotion as Principal in the year 2012, for not willing to take up challenging task and these are: Bhattacharjee HOD Electrical, S. Sinha HOD Mechanical and A. Ali HOD Civil Engineering.

Subsequently, the government had to appoint W L Warjri who is the HOD Electronics but junior to them in terms of seniority.

Basaiawmoit said interestingly both S Bhattacharjee (retired) and A Ali served as HODs in Shillong Polytechnic under the Principalship of W L Warjri before they were transferred to the Directorate as Deputy Director respectively.

In 2018, the government decided to appoint A Khongphai, M Kyndiah and SP Basaiawmoit as Principals of Williamnagar Polytechnic, Tura Polytechnic and Jowai Polytechnic respectively.

Basaiawmoit alleged that however in 2019 the government promoted A Ali to the post of Joint Director and this action on the part of the government deprived WL Warjri of the post of Joint Director in DHTE and this has created a wrong precedence in which a Principal who have a field experience of institutional Administration was prevented from getting the post at the Directorate.

“Moreover, the same person who was promoted to the post of Joint Director in 2019 was again promoted to the post of Additional Director thereby superseding three Principals namely, A. Khongphai, M. Kyndiah and S. P. Basaiawmoit which is a clear indication of favouritism on the part of the higher authority to a person who had once forgone her promotion to the challenging post of Principal Shillong Polytechnic,” he said.

“Again the name of the said person appeared when the government announced its decision to appoint her as the full-fledged Secretary of the MSCTE after her retirement. The question now is how this person can surreptitiously manage to reach to the level of Additional Director despite her failure to show an amount of responsibility to serve the department in any given situation. And now she has prepared a post for herself after retirement. Is it justified for a person who had forgo a promotion to avoid responsibility to be rewarded with such a post? Is this not discrimination against our own people?” he asked.

The VPP legislator further added, “I fail to understand why have different governments in Meghalaya choose to create this kind of environment among the officials where some are given favour and others are not. Have we ever thought what kind of situation we are putting those who are being deprived by this stepmotherly treatment of the government to its own people?”

Demanding the government to take corrective steps on the matter, Basaiawmoit said, “People outside are saying that the Britishers had ruled over us and we are forcefully made to accede to the dominion of India and now after we had attained our Statehood, we had expected that Lyngdohs, Sangmas, Marbaniangs, Kharkongors, and others would govern us. However, unfortunately, we are now landed up being ruled by Kumars. There is a saying that there will be no smoke without fire, therefore it is for the government to take serious note of this perception which may be right or wrong. The government should be reminded that it is being judged by conscious citizens for every action. Therefore, I strongly feel that the government should find time to rectify its mistake.”

2nd round of border talks in October: CM

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 20: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today informed that the border talks with Assam for resolving the remaining six areas of difference will take place in the first week or second week of October.

Replying to a zero-hour notice moved by VPP MLA from Nongkrem Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit in the Assembly, Sangma said the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was recently in Shillong for a function and held a closed-door discussion with him regarding the border issue.

“We had decided a few things in that meeting and we will formally take those decisions forward in the next official meeting to be held sometime in the first or second week of October,” he said.

Sangma said after the meeting that the chief ministers of the two states would also visit Khanduli and other areas to send the message of peace.

“I and the Assam chief minister intend to visit Khanduli and other areas and the exact locations, we are yet to finalise. We will have a meeting in that area to meet the concerned stakeholders and ensure we send a message of peace.”

He said that the meeting held in Shillong was very productive and both states are looking forward to implementing the important decisions taken in the upcoming meeting to be held in October.

Earlier, Basaiawmoit condemned the statement of the Karbi Students Association (KSA) that a Manipur-like situation may occur if they lose their land and said, “The statement made by the leader of KSA is sufficient enough to create disharmony in the border areas.”

He also wanted to know whether the state government has taken this matter with its counterpart in order to ensure the maintenance of harmony in the border area.

To this, the Chief Minister said while the regional committee meeting was still in progress on August 16, the Karbi Students Association (KSA) came to the venue and met the regional committee members after the meeting concluded.

Thereafter, the president of KSA appeared before the media and it was during the said briefing that the president stated that “a Manipur-like situation may occur if we lose our lands, warn KSA”.

He however said, “This matter was not entertained by the Assam Minister, Piyush Hazarika who rebuked the person stating that such a statement should not be made to aggravate the situation. The minister mentioned that the aim of the committee is to bring peace and harmony between the two communities and to find out the best possible solution to resolve the border issues.”

He informed that earlier on August 30, 2023, the Jaintia Students’ Movement and KSA held a meeting in Diphu, East Karbi Anglong District, Assam in which they discussed the parameters to bring peace and normalcy along the Assam-Meghalaya border.

During the meeting, the Students Committee for Peace Initiative was formed and the committee will work on how to bring back life to normal on the interstate border and ease the communal tension.

They had also decided that representatives of the two NGOs would visit the border villages along with village elders. Further, it was decided that a similar meeting will be convened in Jowai in the coming days.

The main purpose of the meeting is to find ways and means to end the turmoil in the border areas.

Stating that as of date, the situation in the area is under close watch, the chief minister assured that all efforts are being put into ensuring that law and order in the area will not be breached adding that the district police are on high alert and regular patrolling is being conducted in and around the area.

The police are also regularly meeting the village elders and the general public, appealing to them to maintain peace and tranquillity in the area.

He informed that sufficient force has been deployed in Khanduli, Lapngap, Saitsama Outpost and Nartiang police station to deal with the law and order situation in the area.

“Apart from these efforts, there is also constant communication and coordination with the counterparts of Assam to maintain law and order in the area and most importantly to ensure that normalcy in the area is not disrupted,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sangma informed the House that the government of the day is working tirelessly towards ensuring that peace and harmony prevail along the inter-state border, and the issue of border conflicts are resolved permanently.

He said one of the endeavours of the government of the day is the sanctioning of 7 border outposts which are the Rani-Jirang BOP in Ri Bhoi, Langpih BOP and Umwali BOP in West Khasi Hills, Mooriap BOP in East Jaintia Hills, Tihwieh BOP and Mukroh BOP in West Jaintia Hills.

The creation of these BOPs has greatly contributed towards the prevention of border conflicts and most importantly, has augmented the strength of police officials in the field.

Further, Sangma said that “the initiative of the government of the day to resolve the border disputes in six areas of difference during the first phase of border settlement and the ongoing second phase of border settlement between the two states, is a testament to the fact that the government of the day is committed to ensuring peace and tranquillity prevails in the border areas and that border disputes are resolved permanently”.

Govt to compensate cattle farmers for LSD losses

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 19: The state government has assured to pay compensation to cattle farmers after over 9,000 cattle have been affected by the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) in the State.

Replying in the Assembly today, Minister in-charge Animal Husbandry & Veterinary AL Hek said no compensation has been provided to cattle farmers in the wake of LSD.

However, when opposition VPP legislator from Nongkrem Ardent M Basaiawmoit sought to know if the government is contemplating providing compensation to cattle farmers, who were compelled to close down their farms due to LSD, Hek said, “Government is going to pay compensation (to cattle farmers).”

He said that over 9,000 cattle were affected by LSD in the State.

Hek also informed that four veterinary hospitals and 125 dispensaries are providing medicines and vaccination to cattle against the disease.

On the other hand, the minister informed that Rs 16,20,000 compensation was provided to farmers during 2020-21 for the deaths of 540 pigs due to African Swine Fever disease.

When Basaiawmoit alleged the swine fever disease happened ever since the government started distributing piglets, which are from outside the state,  Hek said, “We are not a self-sufficient State that is why we have to depend from outside the State.”

AIM against gambling in melas

The Awakening Indian Movement (AIM) has sought the intervention of the deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills district to ensure a blanket ban on gambling at melas being organized by different agencies.

Speaking to media persons, chairman of AIM Bansharai Marbaniang said that many people from other part of the country come to Meghalaya to host various kinds of melas, however these melas have games that encourage gambling with money which is detrimental and have a negative impact on the welfare of the people.

Marbaniang alleged that melas throughout the country are being held in order to provide entertainment to all citizens where they can experience happiness especially for children, students, and youth but at present melas in Meghalaya are being held with gambling which have detrimental and a negative impact on the welfare of the people.

“During our visit to the mela held at the Parking Lot outside Polo Ground in Shillong, the mela hosted various gambling activities with money and young people and students in uniform participated in various gambling games” said Marbaniang.

Marbaniang said that AIM is not against organizing melas in the state, however it stands against the act of gambling that is being held at the venues hence the AIM sought the intervention into this matter.

Govt proposing new name for SICPAC

Arts and Culture Minister Paul Lyngdoh today said the government is proposing a fresh name for the “SICPAC” or the Shillong International Centre for Performing Arts & Culture.

Lyngdoh told reporters that after conducting an inspection of the SICPAC building yesterday, they found a lot of gaps in what has been committed and what has been achieved.

“Accordingly, we will try to bridge the gaps beginning with the name of the project SICPAC which is not the best of names as we have a lot of sick units around so we will first start with the fresh name of the project as it is going to house the biggest theatre in NE India with a capacity of 1700,” he said.

“A lot of changes will have to be made and the handing over of the project to the state government has not happened till date despite the inauguration which happened last year,” he added.

Further, Lyngdoh said that the first move would be for the department to get the project handed over officially to the government of Meghalaya.

“We will be reviewing this matter at a meeting to which I will invite officers including the chief secretary because it is a very significant milestone for Meghalaya and we will bridge all the gaps in terms of agreements and works undertaken,” he stated.