Nongpoh: After much delay, the Nongpoh district jail located at Mawsyntai village was finally inaugurated by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma amidst heavy downpour on Friday.
The inaugural function was attended by Home Minister Roshan Warjri, Chief Adviser to the Government of Meghalaya D.D. Lapang, Parliamentary Secretary and Umsning MLA C. Lyngdoh, DG (Law & Order) S.B. Singh and DG (Prison) M.R. Vijaya Kumar.
Other dignitaries who also attended the function included Ri-Bhoi police chief G.D. Kharwanlang, ADC Ri-Bhoi D Phawa, officers from the Police department, Head of departments from Ri-Bhoi and local residents of Mawsyntai village and Nongpoh.
Construction of the Nongpoh jail, which was initially estimated at an amount of Rs 5.50 crore – was later revised to Rs 6.25 crore. The project which was started in the year 2004 was completed after a gap of twelve years due financial constraints of the State government. The chief minister, while delivering his speech at the inaugural function, congratulates the people for extending their support and enabling this project to be completed.
He also spoke on the need to create a conducive environment for the under trials who are confined to the four walls, to transform their lives and generate hope in their lives.
He also hoped that this centre will serves its purpose of transforming the under trials, skill development and igniting the inmates to try new livelihood programmes.
He said prison is an integral part of justice. Therefore, the State government has already started separation of Judiciary from the Executive for an effective governance and justice where fie more districts will be upgraded soon for a separate Judiciary.
Home Minister Roshan Warjri expressed her sincere thanks to the chief minister under whose leadership, the district jail at Mawsyntai was inaugurated.
She also said that the Shillong district jail was overcrowded with inmates exceeding its capacity of 300; thereby inauguration of this new district jail will help to decongest the overcrowded Shillong jail.
“The Nongpoh district jail has a capacity of 100 people, and the government will soon transfer around 50 prisoners from Shillong to this new district jail,” Warjri said.
She further stressed the need for a strong and better cooperation between the people of Mawsyntai village and the jail authorities.
Meanwhile, the chief minister also inaugurated the district library cum cultural complex of the district library at Nongpoh on the same day in the presence of D.D. Lapang, C. Lyngdoh, Ri-Bhoi deputy commissioner Pooja Pandey and other officers from the district.
The chief minister also felicitated villages declared open defecation free (ODF), while Lapang felicitated the Swachh Bharat team led by the deputy commissioner to mark the success of rural sanitation in Ri-Bhoi.
It may be mentioned that 527 villages of three C&RD blocks under Ri-Bhoi district have achieved ODF status till date and the district was also given certificate of appreciation from the Union Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation on April 26, 2016 for its performance under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
