SHILLONG, Jan 5: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s much-anticipated visit to Sohra failed to bring cheers to locals, who waited with bated breath in the hope that he would declare creation of a separate district on Thursday.
Earlier, Sangma was expected to announce the formation of Sohra as a district at a meeting, where he interacted with the members of the Sohra District Demand Forum (SDDF). The meeting was held at Sohra Circuit House in the evening in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, NPP spokesperson Ampareen Lyngdoh and party candidate from Sohra, Alan West Kharkongor.
At the end, Sangma only assured that Sohra will be headquarter of the new district which will be carved out of East Khasi Hills district.
“We are here to tell you the creation of a new district will happen since it is a logical way to ensure that East Khasi Hills is divided into proper administrative set up. We are in the process of working out all the details on how we should move forward,” Sangma said at the gathering.
He further said that there is no doubt that East Khasi Hills would be divided into another district since trying to control the administrative exercise from Shillong is extremely difficult.
According to him, Sohra civil sub division has all the necessary infrastructures for the creation of a new district in future.
“What is important for today’s meeting is to remember that we have officially informed you that the new district will be in Sohra. We are going to create this district. This decision was not taken since we were still debating between different locations. We have decided to move forward in a time bound manner,” the CM said.
Asserting that no decision can be taken in a rush, he said that people should not blame that this government has taken the decision randomly.
He said that the state government wants to see that the new district covers the entire South East Khasi Hills belt including the Mawsynram and Pynursla zone.
“By sitting here, we cannot just say that Sohra and Shella constituency will be part of the new district. It is for this region as a whole to have this new district so that people can have access from all corners,” he said.
Sangma said that if the state government decides to make Sohra a district headquarters, then also people will view the move as government’s well thought-out ploy to reap benefits keeping in mind the upcoming polls.
“We will try to create and build infrastructures like roads and bridges so that people from Pynursla and Mawsynram can easily access Sohra,” Conrad added.
The chief minister’s announcement, however, did not go down well with the Sohra Demand District Forum. It insisted that the new district to be created with the Sohra as its headquarters should only comprise areas falling under Sohra civil sub division.
“We had made it abundantly clear to the state government that the new district should comprise villages falling under Sohra and Shella constituencies. We will only endorse a proposal to include other areas under the new district apart from Sohra and Shella,” SDDF chairman Atiar Syiemlieh said, visibly displeased at the CM’s failure to announce Sohra as the 13th district of the state.
Syiemlieh recalled that residents of Pynursla had made it clear that they did not want to be a part of the new district with Sohra as its headquarters, while Mawsynram was never included in the consultation process.
He further recalled that during their meeting with the chief minister on October 1, 2018, the latter had mentioned their demand as genuine and had assured a follow-up.
The SDDF chairman urged the state government to inaugurate the new district before the announcement of the poll schedule by the Election Commission.
