SHILLONG: Following the closure of Swiggy service by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) due to want of trading license, the Executive Member in charge of Trade, Paul Lyngdoh, has asserted that any firm or company wanting to operate in the division under the council must possess trading license.
“Just because you employ locals, you cannot short-circuit the entire process and must come through the front door to operate here,” Lyngdoh said.
According to Lyngdoh, if the firms had come to the council with proper application for operating, the KHADC would have considered the case based on its merits.
It may be mentioned that most of the delivery executives of Swiggy are local youths who were earning a livelihood and sudden closure of the services have affected them.
There are, however, also opinions that KHADC should not have been so harsh since it is a question of livelihood of the locals and the council should have had given them fixed timeline to process their trading license papers before rushing into the decision of closing down the service in Shillong. Meanwhile, Opposition Chief whip and Congress leader PT Sawkmie has asked the state government to take action against Swiggy and Rapido bike services for operating in Meghalaya without the permission of the government.
Lamenting that the laws in Meghalaya are weak, he added that the government must take action against the companies or else the laws of the state will become a laughing stock.
He said the people from outside are running schools, resorts and hotels without permission from the government even as he added that the Chief Minister should direct all the DCs to take action against companies operating without authorisation.