SHILLONG: The Umroi legislator George Lyngdoh has petitioned Chief Minister Conrad Sangma for the creation of Umroi Civil Sub-Division.
Lyngdoh met the chief minister on Saturday and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
According to the memorandum, Ri-Bhoi was upgraded into a district from a Sub-Division in June 1992. Presently, the district headquarters at Nongpoh caters to the people residing in five Assembly constituencies – Nongpoh, Jirang, Umsning, Umroi and Mawhati.
Besides the district, there is also an administrative unit at Patharkhmah under Jirang constituency.
) Lyngdoh said after more than 25 years as a district, Ri Bhoi has been growing in leaps and bounds but there is a need to bring administration closer to the citizens by way of creation of a Civil Sub Division at Umroi as this will ease the problems being faced by the people of Ri Bhoi in general and Eastern Ri Bhoi in particular.
The previous government had inaugurated a Community and Rural Development Block at Bhoirymbong which caters to the entire Eastern Ri Bhoi area which has 133 listed villages and 11722 households with a population of 65528 persons (Census 2011).
Currently, the inhabitants of these villages have to cover miles to reach the district headquarters, which is not only time consuming, but also adds stress on their earnings.
“Hence, Eastern Ri Bhoi deserves a Civil Sub- Division, which would benefit the people residing within these 133 villages especially those in the inter-state boundary with Assam (Block 2 disputed area)”, the memorandum said.
According to Lyngdoh, Eastern Ri Bhoi is blessed with many state government offices including the Sub-Divisional Offices of the Public Works Department and Public Health Engineering, Agriculture, Sericulture and others.“It is also home to the state’s functional airport, and many central government establishments which include ICAR, NESAC, NERIE, Umroi Cantonment, Umiam Industrial Estate among others”, the memorandum said.
Lyngdoh said Shillong By Pass adds to the importance of the region as this opens up the area to tourists and traders.
