SHILLONG: Assistant Waheh Shnong of Umkiang village, East Jaintia Hills, Kynjaimon Amse has sent a letter to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma with a request to reduce electricity Bills in lieu of the COVID-19 lockdown.
In a letter to the CM, Amse said the lockdown has brought the state to a standstill as most activities and services have ceased to operate both in the urban as well as rural areas.
The poor, particularly the daily wagers, small shopkeepers and farmers are rendered jobless and have run out of money.
Amse said that payment of rent, water, electricity bills, ration, medicines and food besides other needs in this crisis has further aggravated the plight of the poor people, particularly those in rural areas.
Their income is more or less zero and as such, it is the responsibility of the government and the society at large to help and share the burden of the poor and needy, he said.
He stated that he wrote the letter not only on behalf of the poor people of Umkiang village but for all the poor people in the state particularly in rural areas and requested the CM to consider reducing or slashing the electricity bill during the lockdown period up to 50 per cent for the poor people across the state.
He proposed that the government and MeECL in coordination with the village heads should identify poor consumers and give them relief appropriately.
Exemption of fees
Meanwhile, the Lok Janshakti Party Meghalaya (LJP) in a letter to the Union Minister of Human Resource Development asked for exemption of fees for students for 3 months citing financial reason incurred during the lockdown.
In the letter, LJP state president Jamil Ahmed congratulated the Centre’s action in handling the spread of the virus and by imposing a lockdown in the whole country.
However, Ahmed pointed out the repercussion of the lockdown leading to hardships faced by the weaker sections of the economy.
In this light, Ahmed in his letter asked the Centre to waive school fees for 3 months from April to June to ease financial burden of the people.
