5,196 criminal cases in EKH district in 3yrs

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 19: East Khasi Hills district has registered over 5,196 cases of crimes during the past three years from 2020 to 2023.

This was informed by the Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home (Police) Prestone Tynsong while replying to a query raised by UDP Nongpoh legislator from Nongpoh Mayralborn Syiem in the Assembly today.

Syiem has sought assurance from the deputy chief minister on the need to fast-track the investigation and charge sheeting of pending cases.

He said there are over 2,821 cases of crimes have been registered in a span of 3 years out of which only 84 have been prosecuted so far.

In his reply, Tynsong admitted that it looks very discouraging as it takes a lot of time for cases to reach the stage of prosecution.

He however said the state police are going all out to complete the process of charge-sheeting and submit the same to the court for disposal of cases.

“I like to assure the House that the police and the government will not sit idle on this issue. We will pursue this matter and ensure procedure in the court will complete (at the earliest),” he added.

On the status of the forensic laboratory in the State, the deputy chief minister informed that the State government had recently created a separate directorate of forensics under the control of the Home department.

“Few proposals have been submitted for strengthening the functioning of this department and the government has already approved the proposal. We have also already acquired a few important instruments required to ensure pending cases are fast-tracked and tests no longer required to be sent outside the state (for speedy investigation),” he said.

Regarding the shortage of manpower in the police department, Tynsong informed that a meeting was recently held under the chairmanship of the chief minister Conrad K Sangma has decided to fill up the shortages faced by the SP office, police stations, women police stations, police outposts across the state.

“The DGP is working out the total requirement and once that is done, the government will accordingly create and sanction. I am sure a few months from now, we will be able to fill up those requirements right from the SP office level down to the outpost level,” he assured.

Court to decide on relocation from Sweepers’ Colony

Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Urban Affairs Sniawbhalang Dhar has informed that the state government has filed an affidavit before the Meghalaya High Court with regards to the proposal for relocating the 342 families of Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong.
Dhar told reporters today that now the matter is left to the court to decide.

The minister said that the government will also sit in a few days and take a call on the matter.

According to him, this was after the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) had rejected the government’s proposal to relocate the Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong to the existing land of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB).

Dhar however said that the government will always welcome the HPC if they want to discuss the matter.

On April 24, the Meghalaya High Court had deferred the hearing on the issue to June 7.

The order was passed by the division bench based on the request made by the state government and the HPC during the hearing held here.
The government had come up with a blueprint after rejecting the April 25,2022-proposal of the HPC that 200 square meters of land be provided to each of the 342 families within the European ward besides bearing the cost of construction of their homes.

In its recent 6-page reply sent to the Deputy Secretary of the Government of Meghalaya and other concerned departments, the HPC had alleged that the government’s proposal was “incomplete, unsuitable, unprepared, unfair and undemocratic.”

The HPC had also stated in its reply that “There are serious lacunae, sweeping and undesirable conclusions in the approach and attitude of the High-Level Committee of the Meghalaya government.”

“We are absolutely devastated that since the formation of the new government, ministers, MLAs and certain groups have been making unnecessary remarks saying that the whole issue would be resolved within the month of April. What magical trick do they have up their sleeve to resolve the issue within days? The matter is sub-judice and they are only paying lip service to respect for the judiciary. We will not buckle under political duress,” it had also added.