Editor,
The article by H H Mohrmen on World Environment Day and his observations on the PM’s maiden visit to Shillong is really an eye opener and reflects the truth of the matter. The NGT ban on coal mining has been making news and this was surely an opportunity not to be missed by businessmen representing the Frontier Chamber of Commerce and another equal partner representing cement factories and going by the name of Confederation of Industries of Meghalaya. Interestingly a conglomerate of headmen under the banner of Synjuk Ki Waheh Shnong from East Jaintia Hills took the same route. My question to all these businessmen and their partners is, what have you contributed to the overall welfare to the poorest of the poor in Meghalaya? Have you ever given them an oppurtunity to grow within their own economic sphere or have you been hobnobbing for NOCs from the Dollois and Headmen, right up to the JHADC and the State Government to loot and plunder the wealth of this state for your profit and economic interests?
If you talk of providing employment in the numerous cement plants then why aren’t our people the young and talented youth with a technical degree not employed in those firms? Just appointing people as low-grade workers doesn’t justify their so called employment. Moreover, these business groups have never come out to experience the harsh realities faced by the villagers but only crave for subsidies and tax benefits. What have you done to the villages affected by the recent cyclonic calamity? Have you ever provided any master plan to protect the environment? These groups need to introspect whether they are here to serve their own business interests or to positively develop this State and its people.
Yours etc…
Dominic S.Wankhar
Shillong-3
SOS, Mukul and dissidents
Editor,
The infamous leak of the SOS by Dr Mukul Sangma to the AICC which alleges that DD Lapang and VH Pala met with senior BJP leaders to pull down the Congress led MUA government, in the national media followed by the local ones is more than what meet the eyes. As per the goings-on it appears that the internal rumblings in the Congress are not taken to well even by the High Command. The AICC is well aware about the situation in Meghalaya and how the BJP is perching to gain from this. The mother – son due of the Congress High Command has a task in hand. Though this dissidence is a replay of several such witnessed in the past, it cannot be taken lightly, more so when the BJP is eyeing every option for another possible coup and the Congress is no longer in power at the centre. It is also speculated that the recent visit by BJP MP and newly crowned BCCI President, Anurag Thakur to Meghalaya is a move by the saffron leadership in this direction. Thakur’s visit to the State was on cricketing matters after assuming charge as President, BCCI. By deputing an observer to the state can the AICC address the dissidence given the current political formulation in the region, state and centre? The dissidence in the present scenario is attributed to the stalled cabinet reshuffle under the incumbent CM. Those who are expecting cabinet berths have started to feel that time is running out for them and they are eager to be in the hot seat with the Assembly elections slated for 2018. This is indeed a bizarre situation here where dissidence crops up from the same Congress brigade despite running the government with full majority. We don’t need coalition parties to bring down a government. This is going to put the AICC in a spot of botheration – to whom the dissident Congress MLAs from Meghalaya run with their grievances, like children running to their mother, every now and then. This actually puts a real question mark on the integrity, if not directly as of now, of the AICC which is taken to be ‘holier than the Bible’ by the Congressmen from the state.
Yours etc.
PK Dwivedi
Shillong – 1