Govt unable to handle militancy: Mukul

SHILLONG, July 3: Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Mukul Sangma said the MDA government’s inability to understand the complexity of the issue of militancy could have an unpleasant fallout.
The veteran Congress leader is said to have been instrumental in ensuring peace in the militancy-affected districts of the state.
“We have gone through very difficult times in the past and the misguided youth who chose to join the insurgent groups responded to the call for peace and withdrew themselves over the decades,” he said on Saturday.
Dr Sangma said peace can only be sustained when people are not subjected to a situation where they start getting frustrated and losing hope of realising their dreams.
“The government still has not been able to understand the complexity of the problem associated with insurgency and the fallout can be unpleasant,” he said.
He underscored the importance of a proper strategy to deal with the issue. “You don’t only call them to return to the mainstream. At the same time, avenues should be created for them to be hopeful,” he said.
He slammed the National People’s Party-led government for favouritism and manipulation of tenders to benefit a few and depriving all those who eyed the “spaces of opportunity”.
“A delegation of contractors met me and lamented that the payments are given selectively. Favouritism is rampant, whether it is PWD, PHW, Water Resources or any other department,” Dr Sangma said.
He said corruption due to favouritism has led to frustration and anger among many local contractors who had banked on the self-employment dreams sold by the government. “They are without any work now,” he added.
The malaise, Dr Sangma said, has not spared the debt-ridden Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Limited too.