By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Coming down heavily on the Government for failing to tackle the problem of influx, Shillong West legislator Paul Lyngdoh (UDP) on Monday said the entry of illegal immigrants into the State is a demographic attack on the indigenous population of Meghalaya.
“Instead of coming up with figures in the House on the number of illegal immigrants detected and pushed back, it is important for the Government to give wide publicity on the various actions they have taken to contain influx,” Lyngdoh said, adding that the Government can consider publicizing their efforts in the form of advertisements.
“This will infuse confidence in the minds of the people and remove their fears of being outnumbered by people from outside,” he added.
The UDP legislator was participating in the amendment motion on the Governor’s Address during the third day of the Budget Session on Monday.
On the issue of crime against women, Lyngdoh said the Government needs to take immediate steps to check rising crimes against women in the State.
He, however, observed that the decision to hand over the Home department to a woman legislator (Roshan Warjri) has instilled hopes that things would improve in the days to come.
“I totally agree with the Home Minister’s views that this issue needs to be addressed at the roots. We need to address the massive erosion of ethics and moral values right from the school level,” he said.
According to Lyngdoh, the two basic objectives of the education system are to teach the young students how to live and how to make a living.
“If our education cannot impart these two basic objectives then there is a serious problem in the education system,” Lyngdoh observed.
The UDP legislator also stressed on the need to upgrade the various police outposts into full fledged police stations.
Citing the manpower constraints at Jhalupara police outpost under his constituency, he said that it has become impossible for this outpost to provide the required services to people with only seven police personnel and one single vehicle at their disposal.
“The outpost has to address law and order problems right from Mawprem up to Upper Shillong. Taking this into consideration, there is an urgent need to upgrade all the police outposts into police stations,” he said.
Lyngdoh also stressed that the social security scheme to empower the BPL families should be implemented in the State at the earliest. “There should not be any delay in implementation of this scheme. We need to ensure that the benefits reach the large number of BPL families who are in dire need of assistance,” he said.
Expressing concern over the plight of farmers in the State, Lyngdoh stressed on the need for formulation of a farmer-friendly policy.
He also stressed on the need to regulate the Market at Mawlai Mawiong with various facilities and sought the personal intervention of the concerned Minister in charge in this regard.
Lauding the Government for coming up with the new programme – the Special Inter-State Areas Development Programme – to develop the villages along the inter-State border with Assam, the UDP MLA said that the Government should give special budgetary allocations for this programme for the overall interest of the people residing along the borders.
Lyngdoh also urged upon the Government to provide additional incentives to encourage the villagers along the inter-State border to register their lands in Meghalaya.
Meanwhile, Lyngdoh made a special mention of the dismal power scenario in the State especially the recent breakdown of power in both Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills.
“This calls for immediate detection of the flaws and initiation of corrective measures to address the problem,” he said.
Stating that he has always been skeptical about the Myntdu-Leshka project due to time and cost overruns, the UDP legislator urged the new Power Minister to provide the latest report on the feasibility status and DPRs of the various power projects where the Government has signed MOUs with private power developers.
Speaking on commerce and industries, Lyngdoh urged the Government to shift its focus from mineral-based industries to small and medium industries.
“We need to empower and encourage more local entrepreneurs to take up small and medium industries in the days to come,” Lyngdoh said.
On the proposed expansion of the Shillong Airport at Umroi, the legislator rued that the matter has been hanging in the balance for long.
“I think the Congress MLAs should take a cue from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who led a delegation to Delhi to demand a special package for Bihar. The Congress MLAs from the State should also demand a special package for the State,” the UDP legislator said.
He urged the Congress MLAs to demand special packages for completing the pending projects and programmes including the expansion of the Shillong Airport.
“They can convince the Union Defense Ministry to ask the local defense authorities to part with some land which is required for the expansion of the Airport,” he said.
The UDP legislator also lamented the lack of quality in the bureaucracy which according to him emanates from the fact that the various interview boards like the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC), District Selection Committee (DSC) and departmental committees are not transparent.
“This has brought in a veil of opacity that has blocked the view of citizens on how they function,” Lyngdoh said.
He stated that in order to bring quality in service of employees the ‘hire and fire’ approach should be adopted, which will tone up the quality of bureaucracy.
On the failure of the Government to handle the issue of unregulated growth of Shillong city, the UDP legislator said that the increasing population coupled with unsafe dwelling units is resulting in the decline and decay of Shillong as an urban centre.
Lyngdoh also called upon the Government to support the local film industries as is being done in Assam and Manipur.
“The governments of Assam and Manipur are making it mandatory for the screening of local movies. But the filmmakers here do not receive the required support,” he said.
The UDP legislator also stressed on the need to put in place a strong and effective Lokayukta to curb the menace of corruption.
On the education sector, he informed that the Government-aided schools and ad-hoc school teachers have not got their salaries for the past three months.
“We can’t expect quality education if we cannot pay our teachers in time,” he said.
On the health insurance scheme initiated by the previous MUA-I government, Lyngdoh said ‘it was more a sham than a benefit’.
According to him, health care facilities in the State lack basic infrastructure.
“The Shillong Civil Hospital lacks basic facilities like a dialysis unit. Most medicines are not available at the hospital,” Lyngdoh stated.