SHILLONG, Dec 24: United Democratic Party (UDP) working president Paul Lyngdoh, who will contest the upcoming elections from the West Shillong seat, said that the state government’s promises of Shillong Medical College and the idea of a Smart constituency turned out to be a farce.
Referring to Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong’s statement that “we keep lying and they keep believing in us again”, Lyngdoh said the West Shillong constituency has some major issues. He said many highly-educated youths of the constituency are either jobless or underemployed, while drug addiction is a serious menace.
“There is a need to maintain peace and ensure sustained development but it has not happened in the last five years when the promises of a medical college and smart constituency turned out to be a farce,” he said.
On the safety and security of the people in the constituency, Lyngdoh claimed law and order was maintained when he was serving as its MLA. He said every festival, Durga Puja or Christmas, was celebrated till late night.
But in the last five years, he continued, there have been a series of “setbacks”. He lamented that a certain police outpost in the area has not been upgraded to a police station.
“Then, the police force is overstretched in terms of performance because of sheer lack of manpower and lack of command. When you have a local representative, he is supposed to provide focus and direction to the constituency. But this was lacking and is still lacking,” he added.
