Local bodies threaten to boycott KHADC polls

NONGSTOIN: Leaders of 3 NGOs- WYWC (Maweit Circle), NLAYF, FKJGP (Maweit Circle) including Sordars of 55 villages from 8 polling stations have decided to boycott the upcoming KHADC polls if immediate steps were not taken to repair the Nongstoin- Maweit road.
Leaders of the 3 NGOs WYWC, NLAYF and the FKJGP of Maweit had recently submitted a memorandum to the PWD (Roads) in Shillong and had provided the department with one month time to take necessary steps to repair the road.
As no steps were initiated by the PWD (Roads), the NGOs decided to meet the Sordars of 55 villages to garner support for the proposed boycott of polls.
Ioanis Diengngan, president of the WYWC Maweit Circle told The Shillong Times, “The Nonsgtoin- Maweit road was constructed in the year 1964 by the then Assam government when Meghalaya was under Assam. We had asked the government to take measures to repair the road within a month, but it appears that they are only interested in capturing votes and not in resolving the problems faced by the people. We have thus decided to boycott the upcoming polls in Maweit area. The Sordars of the 55 villages that comes under 8 polling stations in Nonsgtoin constituency have expressed their support to the boycott.”
He added that a public meeting would be held on February 17 at Maweit to inform the public about their decision and that he along with the other NGOs were confident that they would get their support.
The 8 polling stations are Risiang, Mynraw, Nongtraw, Maweit Mawmarin, Miangshang, Nongshyrkon (a) and Porkhadoh.
“Maweit being a coal belt area, about 80 trucks carrying coal ply regularly from Maweit to Nonsgtoin. These trucks pay revenues worth amounting to crores annually to the government but these revenues have never been utilized to ease the problems of the people of the area. Instead, they want more and more and want to give nothing in return” Diengngan said.