‘GH economy on the verge of collapse with closure of banks, petrol pumps’
SHILLONG: Aggrieved over the prevailing situation in Garo Hills, the Nationalist People’s Party (NPP) has demanded that the Chief Minister should convene a meeting of all political parties, church leaders, senior citizens, MLAs and MDCs to discuss the prevailing law and order situation.
The NPP also expressed surprise that the Chief Minister had not deemed it necessary to convene a meeting of the citizens and political parties to solicit their opinion to find a solution to the present impasse, NPP spokesperson James Sangma said in a statement on Sunday.
The statement noted that the rising law and order problem was affecting the lives of each and every citizen of Garo Hills.
The party held a meeting of its office bearers from Garo Hills region which was chaired by party president and Lok Sabha member P.A. Sangma and attended among others by Thomas Sangma, James Sangma, H. Jimmy Momin, Semford Sangma, John Manner Marak and Boston Marak.
The complete breakdown of law and order resulting in rampant fear psychosis throughout Garo Hills was discussed in the meeting.
The meeting expressed concern over the closure of all the petrol pumps and banks which has totally thrown life out of gear in Garo Hills.
It was pointed out that if the Government failed to take corrective steps and measures to solve the problem, the economy of Garo Hills would completely collapse in less than two weeks’ time.
Prior to the meeting, the MP, who had rushed to Tura in the midst of Parliament Session had also held series of meetings with officials and the employees association of the SBI.
The MP also took stock of the availability of food grains and other essential commodities in the five districts of Garo Hills.
The MP was shocked to know that the Government of Meghalaya had not taken any initiative whatsoever to bring back normalcy to Garo Hills in regards to the agitation by the banks.
It was also learnt that despite the recent occurrences, only three out of 41 branches of the SBI (Tura Main branch, Williamnagar and Gambegre branch) had been provided with security by the Government. The remaining 38 branches are still vulnerable to kidnappings and militant attacks as the Government has irresponsibly still not provided adequate security.
The recent incident of kidnapping of S.S. Mishra from Gasuapara Branch is the sixth such incident of kidnapping of a bank official, the NPP noted.
Closure of banks has brought all the Central and State Government functioning to an abrupt halt and has affected the implementation of Central schemes, disbursement of salaries and the payment of Government bills, it noted.
To add to the woes of the citizens of Garo Hills, the closure of all the petrol pumps in Garo Hills has severely affected the entire transportation and communication network.
The NPP demanded that the Government of Meghalaya should, apart from installation of CCTV cameras, also provide full security to all the petrol pumps, all the banks and their employees along with all Government and private institutions and establishments and the citizens on the whole.
“This will bring confidence and a sense of security among the citizens of Garo Hills and will also ensure that all banks are made functional,” James said, while adding that the party has also demanded Rs.10 lakh as compensation to the family of Bittu Patel, the petrol pump attendant who was shot dead recently.