SHILLONG, Feb 15: Incumbent MLA of East Shillong constituency, Ampareen Lyngdoh is not taking her opponents for granted and does not agree in making promises that cannot be achieved even as she pins her hope on the NPP leadership for all the required support to achieve what her constituency needs.
“People of my constituency continue to have trust in me. I will not underestimate any of my opponents. I regret I could not attend the open debate as I had given my commitment to two localities for door to door visits and it does not mean I am ignoring my constituency,” said Lyngdoh who is also the NPP spokesperson.
Asserting that she is the only candidate in her constituency to have carried out the door-to-door campaigning intensively, she said that she has completed visiting as many as 13,247 families and all questions raised by the residents have been attended to. She has convinced them of doing the right thing by joining NPP as it is a better option for the constituency.
She said that she will receive all the support from NPP, the party which is likely to lead the next government.
Asked if it will be a cakewalk for her, she said, “I will never say anything is cakewalk. I have been through many ups and downs and nothing can be taken as granted”.
Talking about elections and promises, she said, “We will not look at promises that cannot be achieved. Everyone will make tall claims. The point here is what we can continue to do for the betterment of the people.”
She reminded that as promised in 2018, the market project was started and addressing the water woes had also been a priority, except certain pockets like rental compounds where one source was made to cater to 20-30 rentals.
Ampareen said the Greater Shillong Water Supply Schemes III will be a reality and a problem-solver for many.
Stating that being in the opposition for four and a half years has been a disadvantage for her, she said that joining the MDA got her to implement many schemes.
According to her, in the last four elections, she has been able to address the issue involving the drop-out scenario, the deprived families have been given an opportunity to opt for educational programmes or professional courses, coaching programmes and all of these have been addressed to a large extent.
Highlighting that drug and substance abuse has also been a problem, Ampareen said that they have been able to arrest the problem to a large extent and while all efforts have been made to get many rehabilitated, the challenge still remains due to the cost factor, especially for the underprivileged.
Talking about Malki locality, she said that it needs improvement in connectivity and added that she would build up the marketplace as well.
On decongesting traffic, Ampareen said it has been shown on the ground how the width of the road could actually be increased in her constituency.
She pointed out how available spaces were put to use enabling pedestrians to walk conveniently in busy roads.
She is hopeful that the smart city project will help to a large extent in decongesting traffic.