Goyal to assume charge as EKH DC today

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG: The swanky, recently renovated office of the DC East Khasi Hills will have a new occupant from Wednesday.

Sanjay Goyal, DC West Garo Hills will take over from Jopthiaw Lyngdoh who will now assume new responsibilities as Commissioner and Secretary of ERTS, Power and District Council affairs with effect from Wednesday.

Lyngdoh who has been serving as DC East Khasi Hills District for the past three years told reporters that he is ready to take his place as the Commissioner and Secretary of the three departments assigned to him.

Lyngdoh had been promoted to the higher post since January 1, 2011 but he was not relieved of his duties as district magistrate due to various circumstances.

“During these last three years, the district has witnessed many ups and downs which have brought immense changes in the district as a whole,” Lyngdoh said.

When asked about the merits and demerits that the district experienced during his tenure as the Deputy Commissioner, Lyngdoh said as far as achievements are concerned, the district has tremendously done well in various areas like disaster management, transportation issues, total sanitation campaign, health issues besides others.

“We have made rapid strides in disaster management which are city specific like the Urban Risk Reduction (URR) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) programmes,” Lyngdoh informed adding that the district has also been doing quite well in total sanitation campaign while informing that by March this year, all Anganwadi centres and schools will have toilet facilities. Meanwhile, turning to the negative aspects, Lyngdoh said the district has witnessed many difficulties due to traffic congestions in the city and along the national highways which has lately became the worse nightmare for commuters.

“The traffic problem in the city has caused much heartburn and many steps have been taken by the district administration as well as the Shillong Traffic Police to address this problem,” Lyngdoh said.

Lyngdoh also pointed out other problems like rampant corruption in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the recent issue of corruption in the PDS food items and others.

It may be reminded that the much-hyped ‘Women Taxi’ which was intended to create jobs for women drivers became a dismal failure owing to the lackadaisical attitude of the women drivers of the State as well as its suburbs.

However, despite these failures, Lyngdoh says the delivery system has improved to a great extent and that his office was able to meet up with the expectations of the public.