SHILLONG: People in Jaintia Hills have become victim of miscommunication and confusion as numerous notices have left them clueless.
On March 26, shopkeepers decided to open their shops following which people (both urban and rural) came out to avail essential commodities in Jowai.
The Jaintia Students Union (JSU) in a statement on Friday said it was a result of miscommunication not only among members of the public but also the authorities since they did not know which source of information to follow.
“The citizens of Jaintia Hills are much disciplined in nature especially when it comes to issues of community but the press releases that came out from different authorities of the state and the local DCs was confusing,” the JSU said.
The JSU recalled that the state government had issued an order in the first place that shops will be opened for one day and closed for two days from March 23 to 28.
Then there was another order stating that local cabs will run based on the odd and even numbers of their registration plate and along with this another order was issued that private cars will not be allowed to travel inter-district.
After this, another order was issued on March 24, wherein Section 144 CrPc was imposed in the whole of East Khasi Hills District.
The JSU said that the orders had left the residents of the state especially rural dwellers, who have no access to the internet and daily news, in a dilemma.
“Moreover, why is there this strange assumption that all the citizens of the state (urban and rural) have access to WhatsApp or the internet?,” the student body said.
The JSU expressed concern that the attempts by the authorities to communicate fail if the public at large are misinformed due to multiple sources of information from the different government departments.
The JSU had sent a letter to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma informing him of miscommunication during coronavirus crisis about people coming out of their houses to procure essentials.
It has urged the government to instate a single window of information by using the services of the NIC, the DIPR, AIR, Doordarshan, private cable networks and the PA from localities to disseminate important press releases to the public instead of Whatsapp etc which not everyone can avail.
The JSU has suggested to the government to make use of “one state, one law, one order” in these times to get rid of the confusion in the minds of the public.