Editor,
I was born in Shillong and have grown up in the vicinities of Mawbah (Barapathar), Upper Mawprem and Jhalupara. Every locality in Shillong is traditionally well maintained with good, open roads, street lights, proper parking facilities, and a clean and hygienic environment. I wonder why the same type of maintenance and facilities are not available in my area. I also wonder whether the authorities are even bothered to visit and see the negative growth and the reverse development that is happening in the areas of Mawbah, Upper Mawprem and Jhalupara. The entire place is turning into a disgusting, filthy dump yard. There is no proper parking facility. The number of shops stretching from Jhalupara till Mawbah point is increasing like a family of cockroaches. People do not have proper roads to walk on as the footpaths are illegally captured by business establishments. Dozens of cars and bikes are parked in the middle of the road (or anywhere the owner of the vehicle fancies). The road leading to T.B.Hospital turns into a party zone at night with illegal parking of cars that come from every corner of the city and people drinking in them and dumping alcohol bottles and rubbish right in the middle of the road. Why can the State Government or the Municipality or the Cantonment not address this nuisance? To make things exponentially worse, there are no functioning street lights and the entire area appears like a haven for drug peddlers at night. The road along Upper Mawprem is dismantled, broken down and the pot holes are filled with water. People cannot walk on this road, and vehicles unfailingly create jams and obstructions. Even undeveloped and obscure villages have better roads than these. It is only a matter of time when these streets will turn into a river – if authorities continue to remain silent. I have been living all my life in Shillong and have seen the maintenance and the facilities available in the neighbouring constituencies as well. On studying and comparing my locality with others, I cannot understand a few basic things– Why are we being deprived of good roads and street lights? Why can’t a small building be built for these road side vendors and a parking place be constructed along those huge pockets of land that have become gigantic dustbins? As a simple citizen who has seen other localities develop in the course of time while his own locality has been going down the drain, I want to ask – Why has my locality been neglected so badly by the Government?
Yours etc.,
Bikram Thapa,
Via email
Appointment on compassionate ground
Editor,
It is disheartening to note that appointment on compassionate grounds in our State Government has been dispensed with from November 24, 2010 vide Notification No Per (AR) 62/2009/ 54 dated December 2nd, 2010. My experience with many families of the deceased, who had once served in the State Govt. but unfortunately passed away while in active service, I can see no possible justification why our Govt. has adopted such an extreme step since there are many a genuine case where such appointments could well fall under the realm of rationality and humanitarian consideration, especially when we take into cognizance the abysmal economic conditions of the needy sections of the society. There are several instances when the head and the sole earner of the family employed in the State Govt. dies in harness at a time when the dependants are not gainfully employed anywhere else. Such victims find themselves in deep distress given that appointments on compassionate grounds are done away with. The survivors are left n a state of a gut-wrenching poverty in these days of acute unemployment crisis in private sectors, leave alone placement in any Govt. departments. Again, I can’t help wondering while the same policy of compassionate appointment is still in practice in the Central Govt. offices whereas our State Govt has put a blanket ban on it. I’m also at a loss for words as to why the Federation of Meghalaya State Govt. Employees, which champions the noble cause of its fellow brethren didn’t efficaciously react to this critical existential issue by voicing its opposition before the last Meghalaya Fourth Pay Commission, 2007. I hope the Federation will read between the lines of what is intended herein by urging the Govt. to re-consider this quashing of compassionate appointments by premising their arguments on humanitarian and legal grounds for justifiable cases.
Your etc.,
Jerome Diengdoh,
On Shillong Golf Course!
Editor,
Kindly, refer to the remarks of Barnes Mawrie (ST Oct 3, 2015) captioned, “Golf course or garbage dump?” It is the same old story in spite of the best efforts to keep the course clean. Huge expenditure is incurred every month in employing security guards to stop footballers and cricketers who spoil the greens and fairways. The gardeners (mali) have to pick up the litter every now and then. Dustbins are either stolen or vandalized. Who is to teach the public? What else can we expect of an open space which is easily accessible to the public unlike other golf courses which regulate entry? Last March, 2015 about Rs 60 lakh worth of field machinery was destroyed in a fire -possibly a case of sabotage. Such is the situation that the caretakers of the course are seriously considering a system of regulating entry of the public through a gate system. Suggestions are welcome to set things right.
Yours etc.,
A. H. Scott Lyngdoh
Director Golf, Via email