SHILLONG, April 17: After a surprise agitation over ILP implementation outside the state Secretariat here on Friday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has cautioned the pressure groups against taking law into their own hands, which is unacceptable to the government.
“Nobody can take the law into their own hands; let me be very clear, that will not be allowed at all. I urge everybody that if there are concerns, we are ready to talk to you, but taking the law into your own hands will not be acceptable by the government,” said the chief minister.
Conrad’s statements come as a reaction to the threat of the Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisation (CoMSO) to close down the state Secretariat if the government cannot impress upon the Centre to grant Inner Line Permit (ILP) to the state.
This was preceded by CoMSO activists numbering around 100 staging a surprise protest in front of the Secretariat gate against the delay in implementation of ILP in Meghalaya.
“That was very sudden and inappropriate. In fact, we have always been discussing with all the individuals that whatever concerns are there we are ready to talk. Of course they sat down there and there was no storming into the Secretariat. They were later on called by the Home Minister but even that is not acceptable,” Conrad said.
Stating that such a move is unacceptable, the chief minister said, “It is not the way how things work. If you want to talk to us and if concerns are there, they can always come and meet us. But this, somebody just coming in sitting and blocking the road, is not acceptable and it is not the way”.
CoMSO leader, Roykupar Synrem, had said that the organsiation, earlier this month, had decided to do something to awaken the representatives sitting in the Secretariat since they felt let down.
They were sore that this issue had not been taken up ‘seriously’ by the government despite passing a resolution to pressurise the Centre to give the nod to ILP implementation in the state.