Union threatens to launch agitation after public meeting
SHILLONG: The KSU South West Khasi Hills has accused Chief Minister Mukul Sangma of scrapping a road project in the district and threatened to stage an agitation in opposition to the decision of the Government to scrap the project.
“We have been informed that the 40-km road project from Weiloi to Rangblang was withdrawn from the district on the directive of the Chief Minister,” KSU SWKH president Kitboklang Syiemlieh told reporters here on Tuesday.
He said it was hard to digest the fact that the Chief Minister had taken such an impartial decision.
“We are really disappointed since we do not expect such impartiality on the part of the Chief Minister,” Syiemlieh said.
The road which to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.27 crore is one of the 45 projects under Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) which were dropped last year, based on the recommendation of the Chief Minister in the 118th meeting of NLCPR committee.
Syiemlieh said that the road would have been a blessing for hundreds of villages as it would have provided better road connectivity and assisted in boosting the economy of the district.
Syiemlieh informed that a delegation of the Union had also met State PWD Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar and Deputy Chief Minister Rowell Lyngdoh to seek clarification as well as to seek their intervention into the matter.
“While the Deputy Chief Minister feigned ignorance on the matter, the PWD Minister said it was something that was decided earlier at the level of the Chief Minister,” Syiemlieh informed.
The KSU has decided to take the matter before the public at a public meeting on November 21 at Mawkyrwat, before staging their proposed agitation.