Editor,
Apropos the news items relating to the job scams in the Soil and Water Conservation Department, it is to be expected that government officials would continue to commit such irregularities with impunity because of Government apathy. We have read enough about circulars or instructions being issued by the government from time to time to its employees such as those relating to maintaining punctuality , office attendance during bandhs , ensuring prompt delivery etc. which have had no effect at all because those who violate these instructions are never penalised. But it is exasperating when someone at the helm of affairs gives an unsatisfactory explanation on the subject. As reported it seems that the Minister in charge of the Department, Rowell Lyngdoh defended the lapse by stating that many applications were received for the posts when people heard of the vacancies in spite of there being no advertisement. Does he imply that there was fair play here? Are we to believe that advertisements for filling up vacant posts in the government are not a pre requisite anymore? Should the MPSC or the different DSCs also stop issuing advertisements and conduct interviews only for those who are fortunate to attend because they have heard about such interviews.? Would it not deprive those who have not heard about these interviews in the absence of an open advertisement? Is this not manipulation? There are many other questions which can be raised on the action of the officers of the Department for which there is only one answer and that is their selfish motives as they cannot be unaware of the rules.
Yours etc.,
KM Syiem,
Shillong-2
Why Garo Hills is what it is now
Editor,
It is unfortunate that Garo Hills has to come to this situation today but who is/ are to blame for our plight? Can we blame just one individual for its situation? The once peaceful and serene place that I know of where people never really complained of anything much is now called a “Disturbed area” by some. Is this a reason to take pride in or do we seriously need to do some soul searching and come up with a few points for improving ourselves and our region? First of all, what we read in the newspapers today is only about militants/militancy and the extortion cases and killing of innocents by calling them police informers. There is kidnapping for ransom and terror-mongering. What has happened to us? Do we really want to our tribe to be in the limelight for the wrong reasons? Is militancy the answer to the problems that we are facing today? Is unemployment the reason for militancy mushrooming in our region? Is it fierce competition? Is it discrimination or none of the above? If we really feel that unemployment is the reason then why can’t we as a tribe demand (in a non threatening way) for better educational institutions like schools and colleges with better infrastructure and compete with our neighboring tribes instead of blaming others for our plight? Nobody is responsible for our condition but we ourselves. Even if we have tried everything else but been disappointed and hence taken up guns to attract attention, how many of the militants are qualified to talk of running a full state? Are they even interested in education judging by the number of killings and kidnapping of teachers in the past and the effect it had on the student community? If we are really asking for a separate state then let us first educate our youth to be thinking and able citizens and teach them leadership. The gun culture is not the solution to our problems. Let us be responsible parents, sincere and hard working students who can stand at par with anyone, uncorrupted and competitive individuals first. Blaming each is passé.
Public representatives should wake up from their slumber and start improving their constituencies and help create jobs if unemployment is the problem in their constituency. Why have the legislators not done anything so far? Why are the road facilities, water problems, electricity crisis omnipresent in Garo Hill? Why are we voting for them if they cannot even deliver to their own constituencies? I am sure if every legislator instead of mudslinging and playing dirty games with one another focuses more on developing their constituencies, then these problems would not have arisen. Let us learn lessons from our Chief Minister. He may be blamed for many things today but he is true to himself. At least he is hell bent on improving his Ampati constituency where he gets elected every 5 years because his constituents know that he has delivered totally to them. I remember someone saying that he is the Chief Minister of Ampati. Well, isn’t this reason enough for the thinking individuals to ask themselves what they have not done and take a leaf out of the CM’s book instead of playing games and pulling each other down? Shame on the legislators for not delivering on the promises made before elections. Why do legislators go after voters before elections and use militant power ? Should not their work and actions speak for them?
MLAs please wake up and take action before another so called ‘nationalist outfit’ comes up in your constituency and makes demands you cannot fulfill. We know that no militant outfit is loyal and they will cross all limits to get what they want even if that includes eliminating someone. If all 24 legislators do their work Garo Hills will improve on its own.
Yours etc.,
Twinkle Marak,
Via emai