Editor,
The only Assembly news regarding the devastating flood in Garo Hills on 22nd September last year, appeared on this paper on March 18 last when John Leslee K Sangma castigated the government for mismanaging the flood relief operations. As one of those caught in the unprecedented floods in the Mendal-Bajengdoba area I wish to state upfront that no public representative or government official witnessed the actual flood in real time. Only those affected by it did! This was a flash flood. It came suddenly and disappeared in three to four hours. The Chief Minister who ‘surveyed’ the affected areas the following day while picking up the ANVC leaders from Rari did not see the scale of the floods as the waters had already disappeared. Since the floods happened on Monday many government officers were still at home either in Tura or elsewhere. They could not return as the NH 51 was blocked for three to four days. Resubelpara was also cut off completely. The DC and other officers were stuck in the district headquarters and were probably helpless in the absence of equipments.
Yes the relief work could have been mismanaged. But I would like to focus on the compensation or rather the lack of compensation for affected schools. There are quite a number of schools which were badly hit by the fury of the flood. Enquiry reveals that no school has received any help so far. As I am presently associated with a school, a specific narration may be more useful. After the flood had subsided, government officials from every department visited our school. Photographs of the damage were taken and reports were submitted to the concerned office together with the names of students who had lost their study materials in the flood. Neither the schools nor those students have, till date, received anything from the Government.
The central team from Delhi too came calling. After about three weeks the State Education Minister who defended the Government against the South Tura legislator’s allegation in the Assembly, also landed up. After the reception, he went away without even addressing the students. An Education Minister who did not say a word to students! Strange but true! Anyway, probably the Minister did not believe that the school was under flood as the authorities had already cleaned up the mess with the help of the local people. Classes had also resumed. A word of appreciation would have been in order. He was neither interested in inspecting the damaged library books, computers, science apparatus and furniture. The estimated loss is about Rs 30 lakhs. Will any help come?
Yours etc.,
Albert Thyrniang
Mendal, North Garo Hills
Media propaganda and its ramifications
Editor,
Propaganda is powerful because everyone is susceptible to it. Quite a considerable percentage of people in Garo Hills have this feeling that the media houses based in Shillong carry out a propaganda to spread
negativity about the region. Admittedly, the region has been witnessing hardcore militant activity with extortions, killings, threats and demands galore. However, the media has been very ignorant
of the fact that Garo Hills still remains a lovely place to be and live in. Going by the reports in certain newspapers, it would be easy for someone who has never been to the region to liken the situation in
Garo Hills to that of Iraq or Afghanistan during the war, which is ridiculous. The people of Jaintia and Khasi Hills who are posted in Garo Hills are rarely present in various offices nowadays and take
advantage of the insurgency situation not to go to work. They retreat to Shillong or other parts as soon as some insurgency related incident or the other takes place and take their own sweet time to return to
Garo Hills. If a Garo employee working in Khasi Hills remains absent for even a few days I’m not sure how his or her boss would take it. Whether my Khasi brethren approve of this statement is not my primary
concern. My only concern is to make them understand the truth and to let them know that it is really unfair. This has been happening since time immemorial and now it’s reached ridiculous proportions. A case in
point is that of the DTO in-charge, Tura, West Garo Hills who is rarely seen in his office room. His own subordinates say that he comes to work only twice or thrice a month. That is unacceptable! It appears
that there are separate codes of conduct for the office goers of Garo Hills and Khasi Hills. Some may accuse me of being communal but this is what a majority of people say in most offices. If an officer or any
other employee is not willing to leave the confines of his own town or city, he should not apply for a transferable job in the first place. It defeats the purpose. A posting to Garo Hills for the non-Garos is
regarded as ‘punishment posting’ which is amusing to say the least. Instead of spreading subtle negativity through various media, it would do our state and economy a lot of good if the other major tribes of
the State take time out to actually get to know the region and the people instead of believing whatever is written and reported. I sincerely invite everyone to visit and get to know the region. It’s not as bad as you think or as bad as the media wants you to think it is .As Walter Cronkite once said, “In seeking the truth you have to get both sides of a story.”
Yours etc.,
A Momin