Editor,
Hamlet Dohling, the Meghalayan Urban Affairs Minister had in an interview with local TV channel aired the view that a single Uniform Building Byelaw, applicable throughout the length and breadth of the state, is the need of the hour. Frankly speaking, this is a long awaited level-headed truth, sans any political colouring and it is hoped that it finds the support of all sensible thinking people of Meghalaya. It speaks of an approach towards holistic governance where the interest, convenience and safety of the common man finds central place in the planning and execution of administration.
If (God forbid but if it does) a big earthquake strikes the state, the first casualties will be the insecure, unsafe, rickety structures constructed without any technical supervision and regulation. An earthquake will not discriminate, as foolish power hungry politicians do, between a municipal area and a 6th Schedule area. All unsafe structures anywhere will be flattened out contributing greatly to the heavy casualties that will occur. Construction of quake proof buildings therefore is the first priority for the safety of the common man. MUDA, State Govt and ADCs working separately and at tangent to each other will not help. The common citizens’ interests which all have sworn to uphold therefore calls for unity and uniformity of action on this sensitive and dangerous issue.
State Govt and MUDA have the technical manpower and expertise for the job. Why can’t this be shared with the District Councils in 6th Schedule areas? The fees too can be shared on a percentage basis. This will greatly reduce unnecessary expenses and also ensure maximum utilisation of scarce technical resources. Of course since we speak here of the convenience of the people and since almost all structures are now in the RCC mode, State Govt will have to provide these supervisory and regulatory services at least in every Block HQ. Online time bound applications, help of IT enabled services and e-governance should be made full use of to reduce time lag. Accountability and non harassment of applicants should be ensured. Actually this calls for more power to the people and less red-tapism! The time has come to start thinking out of the box and out of suffocating petty politics dominated by small people with small minds.
Yours etc.,
Toki Blah,
Via email
The Unprecedented
Editor,
Sunday May 19, was the last day of polls. This has been the most unprecedented of all elections. That the Supreme Court had to say to the Election Commission these words, “You are toothless”, then “You woke up now”, ‘You can now watch the biopic”, then “S.C. seeks response on EVM’s, V.V.P.A.T’s complaint”, all show that the golden era of the EC is now over. What TN Seshan and JM Lyngdoh strove for is all undone. The last is a very serious case. The three complaints among which, “Delhi man claims that there is a mismatch between vote cast by him and the VVPAT slip” is a matter to be studied. For the retired DGP of Assam who also claimed that the VVPAT slip did not have the name of the person he voted for but that he was scared of having to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 and face six months imprisonment if an enquiry should find the claim to be false, I find this highly illogical. How could a high ranking retired police officer take such a thing lying down? How can such votes creep in? Who will judge the deviant behaviour of the EVM/VVPAT machine? And what happens if this erring EVM functions normally again during tests in front of the Presiding Officer, the polling agents and the elector? Challenge votes should never be confused with identity challenge when a polling agent has to pay Rs 2 to challenge the identity of the voter. How can we imagine an elector approaching the Presiding Officer and saying, “Look sir, I stamped on the lantern but unfortunately the seal landed on the bicycle!” This would have looked ridiculous in the ballot paper era. Every phase is not without glitches. People have returned home on account of EVM malfunction since no one knows how long it would take to undo the malfunction. Also paper jamming and EVM replacements are the talk of the day. The American Telephone and Telegraph Bell USA had fabricated IC chips so beautifully that our GPS had served us for nearly thirty years. The common one the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) that drives the engine for adhering to pollution safety norms, enables us to drive cars for lakhs of kilometres. Then we have smart phones never to be replaced unless you compete with your neighbours. All these are IC chip inventions. Let us accept one fact that while the EVM errs in recording a vote it is the electors that suffer. In 2024 let us accept our limitations in resorting to the use of modern gadgets and revert to ballot papers which most advanced countries are still using.
Yours etc.,
- Khyriem,
Shillong 14
Meghalaya’s tourism potential
Editor,
It’s interesting to learn that very few know what efforts are being made to uplift and improve the tourism sector at various levels both from the government and private entrepreneurs. I was presented with vast details and information about Meghalaya tourism, courtesy the Tourism Department and it this very same information in printed form can be of use to many tourists coming into our state and visiting various places. There is more scope to augment employment in the tourism industry. For example if the government wants it can open a 24 x 7 call centre to man the Tourism Department to cater to the requirements of potential guests and clients. It can create more avenues in marketing rather than having just stand alone offices. Tourism is very lucrative if manned by professionals like Mr Cyril Diengdoh who is a young dynamic officer along with his team. Those in authority need to take a deeper look in at opening a tourism back office under the public- private-partnership (PPP) mode and employ strong lobbies for marketing the tourism products available.
Yours etc…
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong-3