KHADC chief follows his own political agenda, activates office

SHILLONG: KHADC Chief Executive Member P.N Syiem, who had set up an office at Nongrim Hills to achieve the vision of a new Meghalaya, has already held sessions with students in the city.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Syiem said on Saturday that there was overwhelming response from the student community during the meeting with them on August 27 for a new vision.
Despite the recent reshuffle of ministry by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma with the blessings of AICC, there is no change of plan on the part of Syiem regarding his future course of action.
When asked, Syiem refused to comment on whether his intention is to ultimately set up his own political party to contest in 2018 polls. “My primary intention is to have a new political agenda with all stakeholders and the formation of a political party does not arise now since I am still a Congress man,” he said.
Regarding his recent meeting, Syiem said the students had expressed displeasure over lack of job opportunities, which needs to be addressed by all concerned.
According to Syiem, the concerns of the students are that despite Meghalaya having abundant natural and human resources, there is not much scope for job
opportunities both in private and public sectors. “We want to ascertain the cause of the saturation of job opportunities in Meghalaya which can only address the unrest of the youth in the State,” he said.
In this context, Syiem said he would hold meetings with various private and public entities to understand what hinders the youth from the State from getting accommodated in these organisations.
Since there is lack of job opportunities in the State, there is a need to find out whether the youths are not qualified to get the deserved jobs so that corrective measures can be taken to change the system, he said.
“We need a change in the current system, be it in the education sector, industries and spheres of agriculture, horticulture, commerce, mining, tourism, water resources, forest management, health, power sector and human and natural resource development, to save Meghalaya from the current perils,” Syiem added.
Syiem said he would hold consultations with experts from various fields to arrive at a policy to ensure welfare of the people of Meghalaya.