Shillong, March 25: Rajya Sabha MP and NPP State President Dr WR Kharlukhi on Friday pitched for a ‘Look South’ policy for Meghalaya in view of neither the Look East nor the Act East policy formulated by the UPA and NDA government is working out for the state.
The Rajya MP told the Parliament that Look East Policy was formulated by the UPA government and Act East by the MDA government and while he appreciated the intention it had for the people of the North East but in regards to Meghalaya he has not seen or heard any benefits derived from this policy.
He said that in Meghalaya till date the policy was of academic consumption only.
He reminded the House that pre-independence the border areas of the State were economically well off due to the benefit of trade derived from the erstwhile East Bengal which later became East Pakistan and subsequently Bangladesh.
Informing that the market in those days were called border haats, he said that after Independence those border haats were closed and it drastically affected the economy of the people especially those living in the border areas.
He submitted that the government needs to think of a new policy for the State that is the Look South policy.
