SHILLONG: Independent MDC James Sylliang (Mawhati) on Wednesday decried the Council’s inaction in following up on the issue of security of people living along the inter-state border villages.
“22 MDCs from both the ruling and opposition parties visited Madan Umwang under Raid Nongtung along the inter-State border with Assam on July 29 last. The local villagers residing along the border had great expectations over the visit of the MDCs. But the visit turned out to be futile since there was no follow up action on the part of the previous EC led by Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit,” Sylliang said while moving a motion on the plight of the local people residing along the border.
He also added that he had become a ‘laughing stock’ for the people of his constituency.
The MDC claimed that a decision had been taken that all the 29 MDCs would meet Chief Minister Mukul Sangma to impress upon him the need to give priority to the safety and security of the villagers residing along the inter-State border.
But the meeting with the Chief Minister never took place,” Sylliang said, while adding, “It is clear that the KHADC is not serious about addressing the problems faced by the people.”
Joining in the discussion, Congress MDC Antonio War claimed that the visit of the MDCs was woefully disorganized.
“Majority of the MDCs were totally clueless about the schedule of the visit. We all had to wait for more than two hours for the arrival of former CEM (Basaiawmoit) at Madan Umwang where a public meeting was to be organized,” War said.
“We had anticipated that the villagers would be given an opportunity to highlight their problems. Sadly, the villagers had to be contended with only listening to the lectures of the MDCs, especially the former CEM,” the Congress MDC said.
According to War, the villagers were left disappointed since the MDCs’ visit turned out to be a ‘political stunt’ by ‘somebody’ who wanted to prove that he was the only messiah and savior of the local villagers.
KHADC CEM Adelbert Nongrum, however, declined to cast aspersions on the previous EC, stating that it could be possible that they might have chalked out other plans to address the problem of the local villagers.
“My only assurance now is that the mission is not yet complete. The present EC will definitely take steps to address the problem faced by the villagers,” Nongrum said, while hinting that he was not adverse to the idea of leading a delegation to New Delhi to address the concern of the people residing along the inter-state border.