Editor,
I am from the UK; my wife is from Shillong. I have just had the pleasure of visiting your great city for the third time. I am always overwhelmed by the friendliness of the local people and always enjoy my time there. I always feel at home in Shillong and a big thank you to all the people there for making us feel so welcome. We are already planning an early return.
Yours etc.,
Neil Heyes,
Via email
MeECL at breaking point?
Editor
The recent two issues of The Shillong Times reported on the power breakdown which blacked out Garo Hills followed by the report of a similar black out in Jaintia Hills District. Why the Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly refused to admit the adjournment motion relating to the breakdown in Garo Hills, as reported, defies all logic. Surely the Rules could have been circumvented to allow serious matters to be taken up in the best interests of the public. But the Speaker is the ex -Power Minister himself. So therefore he can become wise under certain circumstances and conceitedly expect it to be beyond comprehension to many others. The report about the breakdown in Jaintia Hills also mentioned about the recent election promise of Dr RC Laloo that Jaintia Hills would never have to face such a situation . It is an inopportune moment that this breakdown took place immediately after. But why did he have to make such a promise only during the recent elections only? What did he do all these years when he was at the helm of affairs and particularly when he was always in the seat of power? Maybe Dr Laloo is wise enough to know that election promises can always be made and to hell after that since in any case, he must have assessed that the people of Jowai are naive and can be fooled all the time particularly as they have not made him accountable after all these years By the by, the almost constant failure of MeECL to deliver is nothing new .This organisation is coming in the news often for the wrong reasons. Many in the social circle attributes this to the dual responsibility given to a single person to head the administration of the State as well as that of the Corporation. Why is the present Chief Minister of the State who always talks big about good governance and efficient delivery, blind to this and allows such an arrangement to continue for so long in spite of negative outcomes? Somehow , there is more to this than meets the eye or perhaps he feels that no one can question his wisdom . However one can only handle things to a certain limit . Therefore, the person who fails to deliver because of the dual responsibilities given to him should on moral grounds break away from either one of these. But then, he must be another one of those wise guys! Really frustrating
Yours etc.,
Gilbert Rani,
Via email
Members of the House without a house
Editor,
The inferno of the 9th January 2001 which gutted the Meghalaya Assembly building has rendered the members of the House since then and till today house-less. In the absence of a permanent building, the Assembly is functioning temporarily at the Art and Culture building at Rilbong. The dictionary meaning of ‘temporary’ means a short period of time but it does not specify how short it should be. In the context of the Meghalaya Assembly the word means 13 years running. There may be many reasons as to why the new Assembly building could not be constructed and one of them is because successive Speakers of the Assembly have repeatedly changed the site of the building. I must thank if not congratulate the former Hon’ble Speaker of the Assembly, Charles Pyngrope who during his tenure had given a commitment as well as made serious attempts to construct the new Assembly building, albeit, he could not do so due to opposition on the building site from cross sections of the society prominently from the SCAMOD and ICARE. I don’t know if these opponents are convinced but the fact of the matter is that the 8th Assembly had been closed to eternity and the building is still not there. Now that Mr. AT Mondal is being elected to the coveted post of a Speaker, the buck for building the new Assembly stops at his door. However, the collective efforts of the 59 and convergence of the wise opinion of the civil society is also very crucial in this regard. As for me, having the Assembly building on the outskirts of Shillong will do no harm as that may ease the congestion and traffic snarls in the city, somewhat. In fact reallocating of some of the offices and institutes of the city could be considered as one of the means to combat traffic problems in Shillong. There is a silver lining in the ‘abode of clouds’ on this issue with you Sir on the Chair since you are known as an epoch making man in the political history of Meghalaya. You have created history in Meghalaya by being the first non-indigenous Minister in the Meghalaya Government in 1998 and now as the Presiding Officer of the House. We expect many things from you and of course to create the said building at the earliest.
Yours etc.,
Airpeace Rani,
Shillong-04