Meghalaya turns 44 today
SHILLONG: It was the usual bureaucratic style of response The Shillong Times received from babus of the State when asked about the status of the State Emblem on the eve of the 44th Meghalaya Day on Tuesday.
When contacted, Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), H.M. Shangpliang said the chief secretary should be contacted to know the status of the State Emblem. Principal Secretary, GAD, P.W. Ingty also echoed the same view.
Incidentally when Chief Secretary Barkos Warjri was approached, his office came out with the reply that the chief secretary was not aware of the State Emblem.
The State government in fact has been using the National Emblem for various official correspondences.
The issue was raised in September, 2012 in the Legislative Assembly.
The then GAD Minister A.L. Hek had told the Assembly that improvement and modifications will be carried out to the final proposed State Emblem for Meghalaya, which will then be placed before the cabinet for approval.
Before finalizing the State Emblem, a competition was carried out by GAD and the result announced on July 4, 2011, but the Emblem has not been officially notified.
It was in 2007 that the State cabinet had decided that Meghalaya should also have a State Emblem or logo like many other states.
After an open contest was advertised by the GAD in the both local and national newspapers, the department had received as many as 123 entries.
A committee comprising the chief secretary, additional chief secretary, commissioners and secretaries of GAD, officials of Arts and Culture, Information and Public Relations, Tourism and their respective directors had scrutinized the entries.
The committee had also shortlisted three winners – R. Kamtre Sumer from Jowai (first), Anup Das Gupta from Arunachal (second) and Sanghamitra Shan from Kolkata (third).
The three winners were given cash awards of Rs.30,000, Rs.20,000 and Rs.15,000, respectively.
During the President’s Rule in Meghalaya in 2009, the three names were placed before the Executive Council headed by the Governor but the Executive Council suggested further improvement of the prize winning ideas.
Following this, the State government sought the help of NIC for improving the emblem with proper designs taking motifs from clouds, waterfalls, mountains, birds and clouded leopard.
After completion of the due process, the proposed emblem was placed before the State cabinet on August 24, 2011 and after examination, the cabinet suggested that the logos which have the motifs of clouds, mountains, trees and three birds should be further modified so as to make them more prominent.
The assurance of the then GAD Minister A.L. Hek in the Assembly was that after making further modifications, the proposal will be placed before the cabinet again for approval, which however, is yet to materialize.