SHILLONG: The Meghalaya BJP has appealed to the Union government to accord special status category for Meghalaya.
In a memorandum submitted to BJP national president Amit Shah on Thursday, BJP state president Khlur Sing Lyngdoh said that Meghalaya, being a landlocked hill state, is in dire need for better connectivity through adequate and proper road network and therefore, investment in road infrastructure for the entire State is of prime necessity.
“Being endowed with natural scenic beauty and cultural heritage, Meghalaya can be developed into a tourist destination on the lines of eco-tourism and cultural tourism at international standards,” Lyngdoh said.
The State BJP complained about the political and economic scenario in Meghalaya despite having been a state within the Indian Union for more than 43 years, the State and its people have been stagnated all around without any policy and blueprint to take it forward.
“Lack of employment, agricultural, pro-farmer and mineral or mining policies have resulted in the loss of livelihood to many when the NGT ban on mining came into force since April, 2014,” the BJP said, while adding that Industrial Policy brought in 1997 has proven to be detrimental to the interest and benefit of the majority population in the State.
The party also alleged that corruption at all levels of governance rules the day and lamented that Meghalaya is rich in mineral resources including coal yet the respective governments including the present one have failed to convert these natural resources into benefits for the people of the State except to promote export of coal outside the State and outside the country for exclusive profit of the few rich coal miners.
The party also blamed the State Government for failing to put in place an environment- friendly mining policy though the earlier draft policy was rejected by the people since it was benefitting the rich miners while ignoring the small and marginal miners of the State.
The BJP also lamented that the State does not have an education policy of its own and therefore, education is directionless, lacks in quality and the standard is very low, almost two years behind the national standard and asked the Union Government to monitor the performance of the State Government in this crucial area of concern, including proper utilization of funds meant to better and promote education in the State as also full and proper implementation of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan scheme, particularly in rural and inaccessible areas.
The party asked Amit Shah to urge the Union Government to bring amendments to the RTE Act whereby religious minority institutions do not face the brunt as is happening in Meghalaya and also to make free education mandatory for children from the age of four till the age of eighteen.
According to the BJP, though border haats have been set up by the State government but the ground reality is much different since the road development and maintenance is being taken up at a very slow pace with the need of quite a number of bridges for road connectivity all along the international border with Bangladesh and in addition porous borders encourage infiltration from across the border and thievery by persons from the other side into many border villages on the Indian side is a common occurrence.
The State BJP also stressed on the need to solve the long-pending inter- state boundary dispute with Assam saying the boundary issue between Meghalaya and Assam has not been amicably settled giving rise to infrequent border skirmishes between peoples living along the inter- state border, in particular, along Goalpara, Kamrup and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam.
The BJP also suggested that it would be in the best interest of all concerned, even for States outside the region for the Centre to set up a 2nd States Re-organisation Commission or Inter- State Boundary Commission so that boundary disputes prevailing may be settled once and for all.
The party also demanded that the Shillong Airport at Umroi, which has been in existence for some 30 years, needs to be upgraded immediately since flights operated are only between Shillong and Kolkata and that too, in a very irregular and uncertain manner.
The party demanded air connectivity between Shillong and other airports in the region like Aizawl, Imphal, Agartala, Dimapur, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Silchar, Bagdogra, Naharlagun and with New Delhi.
