Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 15: NPP national general secretary and deputy chief minister Sniawbhalang Dhar has opined that the opposition Congress has been admitted in an intensive care unit (ICU) and that it would be pointless to re-elect its candidate and sitting MP Vincent H Pala from Shillong parliamentary seat.

He said that it would also be pointless for people to vote for the opposition Voice of People Party (VPP) and United Democratic Party (UDP) as they will only end up in Byrnihat and will reach nowhere.

Addressing at a meeting held at Byrnihat, Ri Bhoi on Thursday, to drum up support to the NPP’s candidate for Shillong and cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, Dhar said there are around 4-5 candidates, who will be contesting in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.  

“However, the candidate of the UDP will not reach anywhere and the VPP candidate also as you all know will only end up in Nongpoh (Byrnihat),” he said. He also alleged that voters, especially Garos and non-tribal, are not inclined towards the two parties.

Also alleging that the Congress is a sinking party, Dhar said, “Congress is a party, which is already in the ICU and we don’t know what will happen to it. The grand old party now has only 5 MLAs (in Meghalaya). The party, which had ruled the Centre once with a majority of 543 now is being reduced to only 40-50 and in this coming election, I don’t think they will even cross 40 seats. So why should we want to send the Congress MP. If we send (the Congress), we are fighting a losing battle already.”

“Therefore, I urge the people that the only option now is for you to vote for NPP’s Ampareen Lyngdoh,” he added.

He also said that the people will be best judge on the performance of Pala during the past 15 years.

Meanwhile, Dhar informed that as transport minister he had taken up with the Centre for sanctioning of eight laning road from Khanapara to Byrnihat and four lane road from Umroi to Jaintia Hills to ease the ever growing traffic jams.

The deputy chief minister also lauded the Jirang MLA Sosthenes Sohtun for working very hard to bring development to the constituency. He said the MLA would even fight with CM every evening for development of his constituency.

“Therefore, it is visible that this constituency is not lacking behind be it roads, water supply, education sector and others,” Dhar said while adding that Jirang and Ranikor were among the constituencies which received the maximum development from the government.

“Sohtun is one of the most dynamic and hardworking MLA I should say. He fights almost every evening with the CM in his office. Today he came and asked for water and another 2-3 days he asked for roads and sometimes when he came and opened the door, CM would say what you want now. That is why he cares for his people.

In his speech, former Sohiong MLA Samlin Malngiang said that the NPP is a party which has principles and has leaders like Conrad K Sangma and two deputy CMs – Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar. “Therefore, people should vote for the NPP in the upcoming polls to ensure all round development of the state,” he said.

The meeting was presided by Jirang MLA and attended by leaders and workers of the party.

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 15: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has demanded the state government to withdraw the advertisement published recently for filling up the various vacancies in the Meghalaya police citing that the decision to reduce the age limit of the candidates is not acceptable.  

In a letter to the chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday, HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem said, “Therefore, we urged upon you to take necessary steps to withdraw the said advertisement and re-advertise by enhancing the upper age limit which is at par with other States in India for candidates belonging to STS/SCs categories keeping in mind the facts and circumstances stated above.”

He said as per the advertisement published by the office of the Inspector General of Police (R/PR)-Cum- Chairman, Central Recruitment Board on March 6, the age criteria for the posts of UB Constable/Fireman/Driver Fireman/ Fireman Mechanic/MPRO Operator/Signal Operator/ AB Constable/ Battalion Constable/ MPRO GD/ Constable Handyman and Driver Constable, is 18-21 Years of age with 5 years relaxations for ST/SC candidates.      

“These changes in the age limit of the candidates for applying the above-mentioned posts by reducing the applicable age to 21 years plus 5 years relaxation that is to 26 years maximum age limit is not a welcome step and is affecting majority of the youths of the State who are still unemployed due to various unforeseen events,” Synrem said.

“When other States in the country are keeping the upper age limit to be above 30 years of age for STs/SCs candidates, we fail to understand the reason as to how our government in a State with the majority of the citizens belonging to ST categories is putting such a restriction for applying the above mentioned posts,” he added.

Further, he said that “also as a State and the country as a whole we have lost a good 2-3 years of recruitment process due to Covid-19 and other unforeseen events and these facts should have been taken into considerations before coming up with the policy of reducing the age limit at this point of time and especially when our youths have been looking forward and have prepared themselves to apply for the various posts in the Police Department.”

“Now, the question is where will these youths who are deprived of applying for the above-mentioned posts go? Do we want them to go astray and be a burden to the Society and the State as a whole? Do we let them down by bringing in rules/regulations/policies like these?” he asked.

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 21: The Meghalaya government today turned down the opposition’s demand for passing an official resolution to oppose the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on the ground that the Centre is yet to come up with a Bill on the matter.

The resolution to oppose the UCC was moved by an opposition Congress legislator from Mawhati Charles Marngar and supported by members of the opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and Voice of the People Party (VPP) in the Assembly.

In his reply, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the State government is very much against the concept and idea of the UCC as it goes against the idea of India which is ‘diversity’.

However, the government cannot just pass a resolution prematurely without knowing the content of the UCC Bill.

“The question arises that can we as legislature oppose or pass a resolution without knowing the content of the UCC Bill. Outside the House, we can speak on the basis of what we think may happen but as a legislature today if we are to oppose the UCC, the first thing we need to have in front of us is the UCC Bill,” Sangma said.

He said it doesn’t mean just because other States have done it, Meghalaya too should pass a resolution. “That is why, we need to apply our mind. Therefore, it is only when we see the UCC Bill then we take a stand as a government,” he added.

Further, the chief minister also assured that the House will stand united to oppose any move by anybody including Parliament to dilute the identity, rights, culture and practices of the indigenous people of Meghalaya.

“If there is any proposal in the proposed Bill to dilute the practices of the tribal in terms of religion, marriages and inheritance, the State government and the Assembly will never agree to it,” he stated.

He informed that the matter was also discussed in an MDA meeting on how to proceed on the issue.

Meanwhile, the chief minister also informed that the State government will soon submit its views and suggestions on the UCC to the Law Commission.

“We have fixed the time where the Cabinet will go through the suggestions, which will be in line with that the state will oppose it if there is a move to dilute our practices,” he stated.

Satisfied with the reply of the chief minister, Marngar decided to withdraw the resolution.

“Since I now understand the mind of the government that the government is also concerned about the UCC, I beg to withdraw this resolution. And I hope that the CM, the Cabinet and all 60 members that when the Government of India is going to implement the UCC in our country that time, I hope all of us will stand together and fight together and pass a resolution to oppose the UCC,” he said.

The three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) have unanimously decided to jointly pass a resolution to oppose the Centre’s move to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state.

The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the chief executive members (CEMs) of the three Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) – held in Shillong here today.

“We have unanimously decided that we will jointly pass a resolution that implementation of UCC in the Sixth Schedule area will be totally opposed (by us) and we also pass a resolution in our respective councils soon regarding this matter,” KHADC chief Titosstarwell Chyne told reporters after the meeting.

The UCC is a proposal to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally.

He said that the meeting had discussed at length the intention of the central government to introduce the UCC Bill in the country while adding that “we feel that UCC will directly had an impact on the powers and functions of the ADCs especially with our customs, our traditional practices, community as a whole.”

When asked if a special session will be convened in this regard, Chyne said hopefully a special session will be called by next month as they would like to speed up this matter.

“There are so many problems as I have said that it (UCC) will affect our traditional customs like marriage system. Once this UCC is implemented, we will have a uniform marriage system but here in our custom we have different, so religious and traditional custom will be affected. As Scheduled Tribe, we feel implementation of this UCC will not be acceptable in the state,” he said.

Further, the KHADC chief said that the state government will also have to go in the same line once a resolution is passed by the three ADCs as was done in the case of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

“…the CAA has been exempted in the Scheduled area I think the UCC should also be exempted from the Sixth Schedule. Therefore, we are demanding for exemption of the UCC from the Sixth Schedule area,” he further maintained.