Staff Reporter

Shillong, April 23: The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) has stated that if the State government has firmly decided to implement the roster system ‘retrospectively’, then it has to ensure that roster registers & roster accounts are prepared correctly and strictly according to rules.

A memorandum in this regard was also submitted to the chief minister Conrad K Sangma for his intervention with a copy to all political parties which include NPP, UDP, VPP, HSPDP, PDF, BJP, AITC, Congress.

KHNAM vice president Thomas Passah said the government will also require to engage the main stakeholder viz. MPSC, etc in the process of preparation of roster registers by directing them to re-publish all the result notifications from the year 1972-2022 in modified format showing the category-wise break-up of recommended candidates.

He said following the above exercise, direct the government departments to prepare the roster registers and roster accounts by correctly recording the information and figures provided by MPSC or state recruitment authorities.

“(The third step is) to avoid any possibility of falsely exaggerated backlog of posts, ensure that the information & figures pertaining to Khasi-Jaintias or Garos or other STs candidates who got appointment against 15 per cent provision for unreserved category should not be entered and recorded in the columns or spaces meant for the reserved categories but should be recorded only in the columns or spaces meant for Unreserved category together with those of non-tribal employees,” Passah said.

“However, in case the above requirements cannot be complied with in totality then the government should discontinue the retrospective implementation and opt for prospective implementation with effect from 2023 onwards,” the KHNAM leader said while also demanding that the current publication of advertisement for various vacancies by concerned authorities needs to be immediately stopped and cancelled to avoid any further complication.

Passah said that the method adopted in preparing roster registers and generating roster accounts is highly erroneous, faulty and untenable because of the following reasons: “It does take cognizance of the fact that for the many years, a majority of the candidates who got appointment against the Unreserved or Open category belong to the Khasi-Jaintia community; instead the above method works on the presumption that all the serving Khasi-Jaintia employees got appointed only against that 40 per cent reserved quota meant for them and no Khasi-Jaintia employees got appointed from UR or Open category.”

“Going by the above presumptive method, a large percentage of Khasi-Jaintia employees who got appointment against 15 per cent provision under UR or Open category were presumed as if they got appointment against 40 per cent Khasi-Jaintia reserved quota and so their number & names were wrongly included under the Khasi-Jaintias reserved category,” he said while adding “Resultantly, this blunder i.e. wrong entry of the number and names of the Open or UR category Khasi Jaintia employees in the roster registers has given rise to a false impression that the number of Khasi Jaintia employees is much more in excess of their quota provision, thereby showing a wrongly exaggerated backlog of posts/vacancies in favour of the candidates belonging to one particular community, which will give undue advantage and benefit to that community at the expense of those belonging to the Khasi-Jaintia community.”

Further, Passah also warned that the two different methods that may be associated with the preparation and generation of the roster registers and roster accounts for retrospective implementation of roster system can give rise to the complications.

He said the correct method of preparation of foolproof roster registers and roster accounts which can give true projection of the number of vacancies to be distributed amongst the different categories of candidates was not adopted and used by the government depts. probably because of the absence of requite information and figures in the result notifications of MPSC, etc.. issued in old defective format during the period 1972- 2022.

“The other method which is actually incorrect has since been adopted and used arbitrarily by government depts. without involving the MPSC, etc. and that has resulted in false projection of the number of vacancies to be distributed amongst the different categories of candidates,” he said while adding that this fabricated method has falsely projected a highly exaggerated and artificial backlog of posts or vacancies in favour of the candidates belonging to one reserved category at the expense of those belonging to the Khasi- Jaintia category or community.

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 15: The 31st international cave expedition under the project ‘Caving in the Abode of the Clouds’ took place on February 6-24, in the Muallian area in East Jaintia Hills District.

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The team comprised cavers from the UK, Switzerland, and Ireland, as also members of the Association. The focus of this year’s expedition was on Krem Rynjang (Retdung Khur), Pynnoh Um Sngad and Ram Khur.

Krem Pynnoh Um Sngad was extended from last year’s length of 5,295 m to 7,831 m and further connected to Ram Khur, making the cave system (Pynnoh Um Sngad-Ram Khur system) with a length of 14,951 metres jump up to 7th place in India’s longest caves.

Many side passages remain including a massive relic passage (The Barren Lands) which is 50m wide and 29m high ongoing in a NE direction.

Krem Rynjang has been extended by a further 4,117m taking its length to 20, 445m making it to occupy the 5th position. Numerous side passages still remain to be explored.

The expedition this year was much harder and more technical as all the caves in the area are vertical with over 85m entrance shafts.

Further, as exploration gets deeper into the cave systems more than 3.5 hours are spent in reaching the last point of the survey from the entrance.

General Secretary of the Meghalaya Adventurers’ Association (MAA) Brian D Kharpran Daly said that overall, the 2023 expedition explored and mapped 6,635m of new cave passage.

To date (February 24, 2023) the whereabouts of just over 1,700 caves and cave locations are known in Meghalaya of which over 1100 have been explored or partially explored, he said.

Kharpran said, with this year’s expedition, the total cave passage explored and mapped in the state of Meghalaya has reached 537.6 km. with much more still waiting to be discovered. This solidifies Meghalaya as a top caving region in the world.

Much of the cave that has been explored and mapped in Meghalaya over the last 31 years consists of impressive river caves mixed with massive and often richly decorated relic passages along with magnificent clean-washed shafts that create cave systems equal in size and beauty to those found elsewhere in the world, maintaining Meghalaya’s status on the world-caving map as a significant caving region. Besides, these caves offer a rich diversity of cave life, he added.

Meanwhile, the MAA has expressed its sincere thanks to the Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs, the Government of Meghalaya, and the Meghalayan Age Limited for their continued support, without which the documentation of the caves of Meghalaya would not have been a success.