Latest news Archives - Meghalaya Times

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.

Shillong | March 8, 2023

Malpleasha Mylliemngap, is a mother of 5 who hails from Laitkroh, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Prior to taking up knitting garments as a full fledged business activity, her main source of livelihood was through shop keeping. Knitting was only a hobby before she took it up as a livelihood activity.

It was on days when her shopkeeping business was very low that she started knitting boots for babies through which she received many other orders because of the unique designs and quality products. Soon after, she also got orders for knitted scarves and shawls. Through her undivided commitment and perseverance, more orders came in for knitted caps, socks, purses, hoodies and dresses. She extensively relied on YouTube tutorials to learn different techniques and designs.

She also started a knitting class at the cost of five hundred rupees (₹500/-) per person where she provides training to the youth not only to upskill them but for employment generation. She has created a name for herself in her village and her daughter who is also a nurse makes time amidst her busy schedule to learn her mother’s craft.

Malpleasha wishes to expand her business and be able to be completely depend on it for her daily sustenance. As the knitting process is a tedious one that requires a lot of time and patience along with skills, it was a challenge for her to complete all orders on time because she did not have additional skilled manpower to help her. She also struggles with the lack of readily available and cheaper wool. The wool that she uses is bought from Shillong which is approximately 25km from her village.

Her enthusiasm for knitting led her to get identified under the PRIME Sauramandala Rural Entrepreneurship Programme (PSREF), a project under PRIME Meghalaya. Now she also hopes to come up with an official brand name for her products and also be financially able to purchase machines to produce uniform products. She was able to make the most use of support provided to her as part of the PRIME programme that helped her realize her potential.

This article has been featured in collaboration with PRIME Entrepreneurship Meghalaya. To know more about PRIME, visit: https://www.primemeghalaya.com/