WGH district administration’s call for ‘defiance’ of shutdown fails to evoke any response
TURA: The first day of the dawn-to-dusk ‘Non-Cooperation Movement’ call given by the All A’chik Youth Federation organisation in the five districts of Garo Hills had an adverse impact on normal life despite the Meghalaya government, particularly the district administration in Tura, making an effort to thwart it by issuing a circular asking for normal life to function during the closure hours.
Deserted streets, closed shops and poor attendance in government offices, many either under lock and key or empty, were the scene in Tura and four other district headquarters in Garo Hills.
West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Pravin Bakshi is learnt to have issued a government circular directing schools and colleges, banks and government offices to open up for work during the two-day closure announced by the little-known AAYF which received a last-minute support from the banned GNLA outfit and the Garo Hills State Movement committee (GHSMC) fighting for a separate Garo state.
The endorsement of the bandh by the militant group appears to have turned the tide in favour of the pressure group when dawn broke on Tuesday.
There was no vehicular traffic in Tura and other towns in Garo Hills and the passing of a Tura Public Transport Service (TPTS) was a rare commodity during the shutdown.
While some government employees walked to office to register in their attendance record, many were allegedly unable to reach their work stations due to the distance and lack of transport.
The directive of the district administration seemed to have remained a futile routine exercise with no institution daring to defy the bandh.
Schools and colleges refused to open up given that students had expressed reservations on attending classes during a closure notice backed by a militant group.
The biggest setback was the closure of all financial institutions in Garo Hills during the agitation. The branches of the State Bank of India and other financial institutions were under lock and key during the closure.
Interestingly, Bakshi has claimed that attendance in government offices in Tura was a ‘staggering’ 75 per cent, despite most offices in Dakopgre remaining either under closure or empty during the working hours of Tuesday.
The only sign of peoples’ visibility was in the form of young cricket teams playing on the streets of Tura during the bandh hours.
The poor attendance in government offices was not centered in West Garo Hills alone. Poor attendance was also witnessed in other districts of Garo Hills.
East Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Cyril Diengdoh said that the attendance percentage of government officials was extremely poor with the DC office registering a mere 20 per cent presence of its work force.
A similar situation gripped the chief minister’s constituency in Ampati where the attendance was tagged at around 26 per cent. The case was similar in Baghmara and Resubelpara with the largest turnout of government employees being only in the offices of the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police.
To make matters worse, the 5 am to 5 pm shutdown called by the agitating groups failed to give relief to the public even during the evening hours. While the AAYF had claimed that the strike was limited to the 12-hour circle and only a road blockade would be followed in the evening, there were no takers. Shops did not open up and people remained indoors further complicating the scenario.