By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: To express their strong resentment over the failure of the Union Government to address various pertinent issues concerning the region, activities of the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) held a protest march followed by a sit-in protest near Raj Bhavan here on Friday.
Student bodies of various North Eastern states under the banner of NESO took out a protest march from the KSU office at Jaiaw that circuited through Motphran, Khyndai Lad and Kachari point. Activists shouted of slogans and displayed placards to register their protest against the Centre’s adamant attitude in fulfilling the various demands that NESO has been raising for the past eight years.
Later, NESO information & publicity secretary, Samuel B Jyrwa, submitted a memorandum highlighting the various demands of the students’ body to a senior government official since Governor RS Mooshahary was out of station.
“We strongly condemn this apathetic attitude of the Centre to address the various issues raised by the organisation in the past eight years,” Jyrwa said later while speaking to reporters.
Stating that the issues raised by NESO concern the future and the security of the entire region, he said that it is really unfortunate that the Centre is overlooking these long-pending demands. Jyrwa also stated that the organisation would not succumb to any tactic the Centre adopts to divide ‘our people’.
“We would continue to fight to ensure that the Centre addresses the issue raised by us,” he added.
The organisation was hopeful that the governors of the various states in the region will prevail upon the Central government to look into the problems afflicting the region.
The NESO has been demanding, among other, putting in place a comprehensive policy on infiltration of illegal migrants and refugees, repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, special employment policy for the Northeast, separate time zone for the region, special Constitutional status for the people of the region, halting construction of mega dams, economic and infrastructural development, solution to the inter-state boundary disputes and resolution of the Indo-Bangladesh land swap deal.
The sit-in demonstration was the second phase of the agitation adopted by NESO after a gathering organised at Guwahati recently.