Editor,
I wish to draw the attention of the Honourable Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya and His Lordship’s Companion Judges of the said High Court to the sad and troubling plight of the 576 students who had appeared for the Meghalaya Civil Service (Mains) Examination in the month of January last year. It is a matter of great concern that this prestigious examination has been dragging on for years now, without any positive end or closure. It needs no mentioning that from the 576 eligible candidates who had cleared the Preliminary examination fair and square, many are working class citizens who perhaps had quit their former jobs to prepare full time for the MCS examination. Others are young students who have forgone their higher studies or employment opportunities for the greater goal and aspiration of becoming an MCS officer. Further still, a vast majority of the qualified candidates may have now crossed the age limit as prescribed by the Government, so now they are unable to seek employment opportunities elsewhere. If truth be spoken then it is not just and proper that due to the political games being played by some people in power, the lives of innocent candidates are being destroyed. MPSC remains silent and has not acted on this matter till date. It shows the failure of the MPSC to live up to the ideals of transparency and integrity.
In the neighbouring state of Assam, the now revamped Asom Public Service Commission has the integrity and transparency to at least put up a notice on their official website that due to some pending legal matter, recruitment to the ACS is being put on hold. Here in Meghalaya, MPSC does not even clarify the reasons for the inordinate delay in declaring the results but is keeping the candidates in the dark. Those who appeared for the exams are unsure if the results are delayed because of legal matters or some in-house inefficiency issues. This present Chairperson of MPSC is answerable to the call for transparency, and should answer as to why he and his Member colleagues at MPSC should not be held accountable for playing with the future of over 500 candidates. Beyond a certain point, every man, whatever his station in life, reaches a point of frustration at the system he is part of when things do not proceed in the way they should.
This letter should not be read as interfering in any way with any legal matters if there are any, but merely a wake-up call to the MPSC to be more transparent in its functioning and to prove itself worthwhile to be called a constitutional body. The Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court and the Judges of the High Court are the only source of hope for the 576 candidates right now, as any other road leads to political interference. Please My Lords, help us.
Yours etc.,
Jeremiah S,
Via email
Frequent power-cuts: MeECL needs recharging
Editor,
I am writing this letter after repeated requests from several parents and employees of corporate and multinational companies from some of the localities in the town. The frequent electricity failures in Shillong is disrupting lives. In a day the residents experience more than eight to fifteen power-outages. The fact why there are so frequent power disruptions in certain localities, particularly Upper Mawprem and adjoining areas, definitely bring the administration of MeECL into question. There must be serious faults in the system, hence the consumers are at the receiving end. However, I have huge admiration for the Assistant Executive Engineer of Upper Mawprem Sub-division – one Mr Pakma who is very cooperative in promptly fixing minor faults. I got to know that due to the “overload” of electricity consumption the areas around are badly in need of “additional transformers”. People now fee that the Board must stop granting permission for new connections until the new transformers are installed.
It goes without saying that we have never depended on electric power so much now than ever before. This COVID pandemic has forced us to work from home which means using gadgets that all require electricity. We can’t think of digital activity without electricity. From mobile charging to running WIFIs, computers, internet and media work, we fully depend on power supply. Our virtual classes and various conferences and meetings will not be possible without ceaseless electricity. I am sure the concerned authorities are fully aware of this. Moreover, the government has directed all schools and colleges to conduct online classes. But how is it possible to have that unless we have uninterrupted power supply? I have personally noticed that innumerable students had failed to catch up with their online classes due to recurrent power-cuts. If a thorough survey is conducted the findings would be that a huge percentage of our students could not connect to their remotely run classes due to regular electricity failure. Hence institutions that issue orders should also know the ground realities.
Perhaps, our local professionals from the Information Technology sector and multinational corporate houses who have returned home from Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi to work-from-home have their sad tales to tell. One employee from Gurgaon said that on repeated requests, his company finally granted him permission to work from home and he has now returned to Shillong. What he found disgusting is that his first day of work-from-home was a total disaster. He could not complete his assignments due to the frequent power cuts, one of which lasted continuously for over four hours. He could not participate in crucial webinar meetings either. Now he is worried and regretting the decision to return home. This is just one example. The student community has countless grievances against the frequent power-outage.
The crux of the matter about MeECL is that things are in shambles. However, the Board that is starved of financial resources is struggling hard to survive. The outstanding debts of the MeECL board have become a perennial liability for the government. Perhaps lack of professionalism, incompetence, and absence of proper streamlining of the day-to-day operations has ruined this Corporation. One believes, this mega electricity board needs complete “overhauling” and thorough “recharging”. We should know that unless we have a “vibrant” electricity supply agency in the State, we cannot expect developmental activities to happen. Fueling the powerhouse must be our prime concern now. Our dilly-dallying might further aggravate the problems and force the State to grope in the darkness of regression.
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong