SHILLONG, March 31: Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, on Wednesday announced that Mairang Sub-Division will soon be upgraded into a district.
The announcement by the chief minister holds significance as Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Speaker and Mairang legislator, Metbah Lyngdoh, had recently revealed that Mairang and Sohra civil sub-divisions will be upgraded into full-fledged districts and formalities for the same were being finalised.
Conrad announced this was addressing a gathering at a function in Manai village, Mairang, after inaugurating Dorbar hall, football playground, internal PWD road and a VIP gallery.
The chief minister, during the programme, expressed his gratitude to the locals of Mairang, while reiterating the state government’s endeavours to bring development to its people.
According to Conrad, the year 2020 was challenging as well as one of the most productive years for Meghalaya.
“The government, in the last three years, has worked tirelessly to improve overall governance and delivery system at the grassroots level to ensure efficient implementation of schemes and governance and will continue to bring in reforms to take the state forward,” the chief minister said.
Conrad rued that West Khasi Hills was at the bottom of the list of districts that were ranked on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rankings last year.
“The districts that ranked in the bottom two were South West Khasi Hills and West Khasi Hills, which shows that there are systematic and administrative issues in these districts. Hence, the need of administrative unit at Mairang,” he said.
Stressing on bringing administration closer to the people, the chief minister said that there are demands from different quarters across Meghalaya for civil sub-divisions, districts and administrative units.
He stated that all the demands are being looked into by the high-level committee headed by Chief Secretary MS Rao.
“While creating new administrative units, there is also a need for the government to be calculative in terms of funding and the government has to balance between creating new administrative units and strengthening the existing ones,” Conrad said.
The chief minister also inspected the U Tirot Sing Hospital at Mairang later in the day.
The programme was also attended by the Speaker, Water Resource Minister Brolding Nongsiej and PHE Minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar.