Mukul faces public ire
Tura: For people in the remote East Garo Hills, the core issue is lack of development. People who thronged an election meeting of Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma at Williamnagar on Friday in large numbers were vocal about this.
Though the Chief Minister did not mention much about the action plan of the Government for accelerated growth, he assured the crowd to hold discussions to resolve different problems. Mentioning about different government projects which have been completed, he reiterated the commitment of the Congress to bring about improvements in the fields of education and rural infrastructure and give a thrust on agriculture.
There were many among the crowd who had high hopes and expectations as they were listening patiently to the Chief Minister’s speech on the bright sunny day at Williamnagar. Most of them had been ferried from far flung villages to the Rongrengre ground in Williamnagar, which witnessed a crowd of about 5000 people. Williamnagar is a Congress stronghold, represented by social welfare minister, Deborah C Marak.
But, a few among the audience were also vocal. “We have constructed an approach road to our village under MGNREGA scheme, but it is yet to be black topped. Our village depends mainly on agriculture. In the absence of good connectivity to nearby market, we have to literally walk for miles to sell our agricultural produce,” Sokman Marak, a village headman, said.
“For us, we have nothing much to expect from the government, we would be happy, if the long pending bridge over Simsang river is completed. The government has promised to complete the bridge this year,” Victor Sangma, a resident from Williamnagar, said.
For Mikseng Arengh, an educated unemployed youth, the main problem was getting a job. “It does not matter, who forms the government at the Centre, or who wins from Tura parliamentary seat. We expect that government is committed to provide jobs to educated youths in Garo hills,” he said.
The Chief Minister, who was campaigning for Congress candidate Daryl William Momin, who is pitted against veteran National People’s Party candidate, Purno Agitok Sangma, accused the Opposition of misleading the people. “Purno Sangma led government in 2008 had scrapped many ambitious government projects and now saying that my government is a failure,” je said.
Branding the former Lok Sabha speaker as “Promise all Sangma,” he said:, “I will keep my promise and agenda for holistic development of Meghalaya”.