Rift within Sohra district demand forum surfaces

SHILLONG, Jan 29: A rift within the Sohra District Demand Forum over the demand for upgrade of Sohra Civil Subdivision to a district has become apparent after a section of the members expressed displeasure with the recent statement of the forum issued by its chairman, Atiar Syiemlieh.
Syiem recently had stated the forum is disappointed over the “undue delay” by the NPP-led MDA Government in notifying the upgrade of Sohra to a full-fledged district.
Categorising the statement of the chairman as his personal opinion, a member of the forum, LK Kynta, has asserted that this is not the stand of the forum.
In a statement last week, Syiemlieh had said that the forum had met the Chief Minister on October 26 last year at his office where he had assured to examine the demand to upgrade Sohra Civil Subdivision.
According to Syiemlieh’s statement, in the first week of January this year, the CM conveyed through Alan West Kharkongor, who is a member of the forum member, that he wanted to meet its members on January 5 to declare Sohra as a full-fledged district.
He had said that the forum immediately called a meeting with the traditional heads of Sohra to apprise them about the development.
However, Syiemlieh said, at the meeting held at Sohra Circuit House, the CM disappointed the members of the forum and the traditional heads by giving only an assurance that the government will upgrade Sohra to a district with Sohra being the headquarters. In the statement, he did not give a clear-cut message as to when this assurance would become a reality.