By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A conglomerate of six organisations have set a deadline of two days for the State Government to revoke its recent order giving Scheduled Tribe status to the Marngar community of Ri Bhoi district.
Talking to media persons here on Saturday, FKJGP president Joe Marwein said, “We have set two-day deadline for the state government to revoke the order.”
The six organizations include the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP), Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF), Ri Bhoi Youth Federation (RBYF), CORP and Joint Action Committee Ri Bhoi (JAC-RB).
According to the organisations, the ultimatum would expire on Wednesday next after which the conglomeration of the NGOs would be compelled to resort to agitations if the State Government fails to revoke its order.
The NGOs asserted that the Bhong people living under the Raid Marngar in Ri Bhoi district are originally from Assam.
“They cannot be recognized as Scheduled Tribes as they are not from Meghalaya.
Meghalaya includes only the Khasi, Jaintia and the Garo people”, he added.
“If the Government fails to meet our demands, we will soon convene a meeting to chalk out our agitational programmes against the Government’s decision,” Marwein added.
It may be noted that the issue came to the fore when Scheduled Tribe certificates were issued by the Ri-Bhoi Deputy Commissioner’s Office to the Marngar community.
The certificates were distributed by former Chief Minister, DD Lapang last year. According to Lapang , the Marngar community was recognized as Scheduled Tribes after being duly approved by the Political, Law and Social Welfare Departments, adding the decision to identify Marngar as STs was also based on the report received from the Hima Mylliem and the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Ri-Bhoi District.