SHILLONG: Residents of various localities under Mawlai in Shillong come out to the streets on Wednesday morning to prevent garbage-laden trucks of the Shillong Municipal Board to proceed towards Marten dumping yard in Mawlai Mawiong.
Mawlai MDC Process T Sawkmie also took out to the street to express his solidarity with the people of his constituency to oppose the remarks of Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh of tagging Mawlai as a ‘slum area’.
The resident of Mawlai took out to the streets from 7 am at Mawlai petrol pump and stopped all the SMB garbage laden trucks which lifted the garbages from the various localities of Shillong and its adjoining areas.
The Joint Action Committee, a conglomeration of various NGOs like KSU, FKJGP, NYF, Seng Samla Mawlai Pyllun, Seng Samla Mawlai Mawdatbaki, Mawlai Peoples Forum (MPF) and Mawlai Peoples Development Forum (MPDF) was instrumental in organising this movement of the people of the locality to condemn the statement of the Urban Affairs Minister.
On receiving this information, the Additional Deputy Commissioner DM Wahlang along with the police team rushed to Mawlai petrol pump to take stock of the situation.
No untoward incident took place since the resident of the locality led by the JAC members did not use any force and only requested the SMB garbage laden trucks to return back.
Besides the SMB trucks, the garbage laden trucks from Pynthorumkhrah and other areas were also prevented from dumping the garbage at Marten.
“We would decide after seeing the reply of the Urban Affairs Minister in the newspaper since the matter came up for discussion in the Assembly on Wednesday,” KSU Mawlai president Donboklang Kharlyngdoh said after the meeting on Wednesday night. He also informed that they would again meet to decide on more stringent actions if they were not satisfied with the reply of Lyngdoh.