SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has sought the intervention of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take up the amendment to the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution to raise the number of seats in the Autonomous District Councils during the on-going Budget Session of the Parliament.
The Chief Minister during the meeting with the Union Home Minister on Saturday informed that in the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed with ANVC, one of the clauses provided was for raising the number of seats in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council thus extending the term of GHADC twice to facilitate addition of seats. He added that in response to the advice of Ministry of Home Affairs, North East Division the state government has further extended the term of GHADC with effect from 18 February to August 17 so that the election to GHADC could be held within the extended period. The Chief Minister said that the state government had agreed to the proposal for increasing the number of seats in GHADC from the existing 30 to 40 of which 35 would be elected and 5 would be nominated while in respect of Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council the state government was of the view that only the nominated seats may be increased from the existing one to five seats.
On the inter-state boundary tussle with Assam, the Chief Minister reiterated the need to constitute the Boundary Commission and also to evolve an institutional mechanism to resolve the vexed boundary problem between the states and urged the Central Government to consider and act on the matter seriously in view of the sensitivities involved and the recent developments along the Assam-Nagaland border.
Expressing concern over insurgency in the state especially Garo Hills region being the worst affected by insurgency the Chief Minister felt a pressing need to strengthen and upgrade police establishment and infrastructure in the state and especially in the Garo Hills range to be considered by the Home Ministry on priority. The Chief Minister also stated that given the new challenges to the internal security, to maintain law and order, to effectively tackle the rising trend of insurgency and to also offer useful employment opportunity to the youth of the state and wean them away from the ill influences of militant groups, approval from the Centre was sought for the proposal of the state government to raise two additional battalions of IRBn in Meghalaya for which all the necessary measures by the state government was taken to comply with the conditions laid down by MHA.
The meeting also discussed a number of issues pertaining to internal security matters and stressed the need for concerted efforts by all state governments of the North Eastern region with active support from the Union government in dealing comprehensively with the root cause of insurgency problems in the region. The setting up of Residential Schools cum Training Centers in the border areas with the objective of creating sustainable opportunities of employment for the youth of the region and expanding the scope of the special programme for Indo Bangladesh border was also discussed by the Chief Minister.
