Shillong, March 24: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) on Friday decided to hit the street to highlight how the implementation of the roster system has affected the educated unemployed youth of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region.
While speaking to reporters, VPP president, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said that they are left with no other option since the government is not giving them an opportunity to discuss this issue on the floor of the house.
“We will seek the confidence of the youth and the general public on this very important issue. We will not allow our youth to suffer in view of the implementation of the roster system,” Basaiawmoit said while expressing his unhappiness on the decision of the Assembly Speaker, Thomas A. Sangma to end the proceeding of the house for the day without seeking the sense of the members in the opposition.
According to him, the Assembly Speaker should have sought suggestions from the opposition side either to extend or stick to the timing according to the calendar.
The VPP president said that this is the first time that the Assembly budget session is being held only for seven days and only two days are reserved for the private member’s business.
He further said that it is totally unacceptable to restrict the timing only to ten minutes for the members to take the part in the debate on the Governor’s address.
Basaiawmoit said that as MLAs they have a lot to speak on issues afflicting the people and the state.
“People are asking us to take up issues. We will not sit idle and we will not allow this kind of tactic in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly,” the VPP president said.
Meanwhile, he said that the Government is fully aware that there is an important motion submitted by the opposition members.
“The wording which I have submitted for the motion I have clearly mentioned the urgent need to discuss the roster system. We wanted to request the government to put on hold the implementation of the roster system in the State retrospectively,” the VPP president said.
He said that the government did not want this issue to be discussed since they have instructed their MLAs to participate in a motion that is confined to one constituency.
“This is a deliberate attempt on the part of the government and ran away from its responsibility. We will not allow the government to shy away from its responsibility,” Basaiawmoit said.
According to him, they wanted to discuss as responsible members of the house and they know dwell on any serious issue.
“This attempt on the part of the government is anti-people and undemocratic,” he said.
When asked why they are seeking redressal from the High Court, he said that the Government cannot be selective since it does not bother to follow all the directives issued by the High Court directive.
The VPP president observed that the High Court had issued directives on many issues and they did not bother to abide by the directive of the court,
“Policy matter is not a domain of the court and it is a domain of the government,” the VPP president added.
IANS