Shillong, March 14: VPP legislator from Nongkrem, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit today asked for the status of the proposed CBI inquiry into the Mukroh firing incident as was agreed upon by Union Home Minister, Amit Shah.
While taking part in the general discussion on the Governor’s address on the second day of the Assembly budget session, Basaiawmoit said that there was no more information about the status of such a CBI inquiry.
“But from what is visible on the ground, there was no CBI inquiry. Is this because the Central government does not want to hurt the feeling of Assam? Or is it because the Central government does not care for Meghalaya as far as the Mukroh incident is concerned?,” he stated.
The VPP legislator from Nongkrem also recalled that in the aftermath of the Mukroh incident, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma had gone to Delhi and met the Union Home Minister on November 24 last year to demand a CBI inquiry.
Meanwhile, Basaiawmoit also stated that the Governor in his address has mentioned that the State government has constituted a judicial commission of inquiry into the Mukroh incident.
He said that he is not sure if this commission will ever bring a sense of justice to those victims of the Mukroh incident.
On the boundary issue, the VPP legislator from Nongkrem said that he was worried about the next phase of boundary settlement.
According to him, anything done in haste always ends up in waste.
“The reason I am saying this is because the first phase of boundary settlement including signing of the MOU has not satisfied the people living on the border. Many villages in West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi district which in the past were in Meghalaya have now gone to Assam. We have seen in the media how the people of these villages have protested against the MoU as they don’t want to be under Assam,” he said.
Basaiawmoit, however, admitted that no doubt, the boundary dispute has to be resolved but it has to be done after the tedious and proper process by taking everyone on board. It cannot be done in haste. In the name of boundary settlement, we cannot afford to give away our precious land to Assam.
He begged to differ with the claim of the Governor that the safety and security of citizens are necessary for the development of the State.
“During the last five years and also till date after the same old government took over, people of the State live in insecurity. Crimes and lawlessness are on the rise. Almost every day, there was murder, theft, robbery, burglary, and other crimes,” Basaiawmoit said.
He also mentioned that people are living with insecurity and that in some cases people were forced to take the law upon them as in the case in Shangpung in September 2022 where four dreaded criminals were lynched by an angry mob.
While talking about the war launched by the Meghalaya Police against drugs, the VPP legislator said that he would like to laud the police for its efforts to eradicate the drug menace from our State in order to save our youth from this dangerous addiction.
“However, I would like to suggest that stringent measures should be taken against drug traffickers and peddlers. In the past we have seen how drug traffickers and peddlers who have been arrested by police got bail and then went back to their business of drug trafficking,” Basaiawmoit said.
Asserting that this cycle has to be stopped, he said that drug traffickers and peddlers should be made to face the law.
According to him, they should stay behind bars for a long period under the Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act or other stringent laws.
“The drug traffickers and peddlers should pay dearly for their crime. I want the government to give assurance and commitment on this,” the VPP legislator said.
He further suggested that the State government should also set up its own rehabilitation centres for drug addicts adding that the cost of treating and rehabilitating drug addicts in private rehab centres is very high.