SHILLONG: Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has asked the State Government to immediately constitute a judicial inquiry and further proceed as per the provisions of the law to restore peace in the city.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, Opposition leader, Mukul Sangma said that they were demanding for a judicial inquiry since there was a demand for shifting of the Sweepers’ Colony from the present location.
“The judicial inquiry will give a clear picture about what is happening and what should be done. There will be a term of reference when we constitute the inquiry. The Government will have the privilege to have an insight to all the information and act upon that,” Mukul Sangma said.
Slamming the Government for failing to sustain peace in the state which was achieved after a long-drawn exercise by the previous Government , Sangma added that the previous Congress-led Government had managed to sustain peace until the installation of the present government.
“It is a sad thing that the Government has not even completed three months and they have messed up everything,” he said while maintaining that the name and fame that previous government had built over the years for the State and putting the State among the top tourist destinations has been adversely affected or in other words derailed the whole momentum of development in the State.
According to Sangma, it is the responsibility of the state government to maintain peace and in the event of the breakdown of the law and order , it is government’s responsibility to handle such situation in a manner to achieve the objective of restoration of peace.
Stating that the people has lost confidence in the present Government and they are looking at this government with a question as what has gone wrong with them,Sangma also attacked the Government saying, We really don’t know whether the MHA is calling the shot or the Chief Minister office or the office of the Home Minister of the State.”
When asked if the Party is supporting the demand of removing Punjabi line (Them Iew Mawlong), he said that the party was not just supporting but this was one of the initiatives of all the political parties which was available as part of the record of the government.
“It has been something which is collectively asked for by all the political parties of the state including Congress,” he said and added that earlier efforts were made but certain things were not acceptable as certain localities did not wanted to get those space allotted to these group of people who should be relocated or shifted and this is the reason there is a need for a measure which is comprehensive enough to deal with the situation.
When asked why Congress despite being in power for many years failed to shift the colony, he said that Congress was in power for nine years and it faced multiple challenges and contentious issues of the state and accordingly every contentious issue were identified and deliberated upon and possibilities were explored to resolve them one after the other.
Maintaining that everything cannot be resolved in eight years, Sangma said that when Congress gets the mandate again they will resolve it
“Now we will handle , if they don’t know how to handle it, we will handle it within a reasonable period of time and we know these people cannot handle so we will handle it.,” he added