Murphy’s Law in Meghalaya

Editor,

Reading “The Shillong Times ” dated April 23, 2023 reminds one of Murphy’s Law which states that, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” This sounds like a pessimistic statement but even a hard-core optimist will become pessimistic about the future of Meghalaya if he happens to read the following five news items on the front-page of one issue of a newspaper:-

1. Load shedding will not end soon.
2. Charges of coal scam a political ploy.
3. Go to police if unhappy with Shillong- Dawki road work.
4. Water crises in city grips many localities
5. Accidents galore on state’s two busiest highways

As everyone knows, the above are only a few of the litany of afflictions that our state is suffering from. One is tempted to mention that 51% of our women suffer from anemia and 46% of our children are either stunted or wasted or that in rural areas, around 40% of our students reading in class 6 cannot properly read books or solve arithmetical problems meant for class 3. The list goes on.

For what they are worth, I would like to briefly air my views on the above 5 news items:

1. The government says that load shedding will not end soon and cited the same reasons year in and year out. With the MeECL taking ever increasing loans to pay back past loans and to pay the salaries and pensions of employees and major projects not taking off the ground for several decades, a common man will be justified if he counters the above government statement by saying that load shedding will never end and in a worst case scenario MeECL may well be on the brink of a collapse if the allegations of large scale corruption are in fact true.
2. For 15 years the PHE keeps citing the same issues of maintenance and frequent breakdowns of the water supply system of the GSWSS and also a plethora of difficulties for non – completion of Phase 3 of the GSWSS as reasons for frequent water crises in Shillong. To put things in perspective, I remember 15 years ago in 2008, former President, Pratibha Patel laid the foundation stone for Phase 3 of the GSWSS when my children were in school, still wearing shorts. Now, my children have completed their education and have also started working but this Phase 3 of the GSWSS is yet to see the light of day even after more than half a generation has passed. It happens only in Meghalaya!!.
3. The government continues to brand all charges of illegal mining and transportation of coal as ” political ploys.” The dictionary meaning of the word ” ploy ” is : A cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one’s advantage.” In this context two questions come to mind: a) Is the action of our hon’ble High Court in pronouncing its distrust of the entire government machinery ‘s will to enforce the rule of law for stopping the illegal coal trade a ” ploy” or cunning plan?  b) Is the hon’ble High Court’s directive to the government to requisition 10 companies of Central Armed Police Force to replace the state police in monitoring illegal mining and transportation of coal another ” ploy ” or cunning plan? I’m sure that if there’s a poll, most people will say that our hon’ble High Court has done right.
4. As per your above newspaper report, the hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister stated that the government has done everything possible including acquisition of land and handing it over to NHIDCL. Has the government’s responsibility ended here? If so, then the government has abdicated its responsibility to see that the NHIDCL enforce stringent regulations on the companies executing the project so as to ensure that the work is done responsibly. It is the opinion of many that if this had been done, the massive landslide which claimed 2 precious lives and injuries to several people could have been averted. Again, as per your newspaper report, the government is also now asking people to file police complaints if they are dissatisfied with the work being executed on the Shillong- Dawki highway. The question that arises here is: Are the state police sufficiently equipped to investigate and fix responsibility on anyone or any entity or company for shoddy implementation of work? I doubt it because to my knowledge our police force does not have road construction experts among its ranks.
5. The NHAI may be right or wrong in ruling out the possibility of engineering faults in the construction of the Umiam- Jorabat Highway and the Shillong By-pass. However, as a person who frequently travels on these two highways and whose car narrowly escaped from being hit by a speeding truck, I can confidently say that the major cause of accidents on the above highways is reckless driving. Newspapers have written about this reckless driving and people have also aired their views on this but the authorities concerned are indifferent although hundreds of lives have been lost over the years. Perhaps our hon’ble High Court should step in because many people nowadays see it as the only prod against executive apathy.

Yours etc.,

Samuel Swett,

Shillong-2.

Incorrect news!

Editor

Your news report on rural health and its success marked by an efficient delivery system in place under Gramin Healthcare is more than what meets the eye. To our readers and patrons, let us understand that the healthcare system in the state is still in shambles no matter what the state department bureaucrats or the concerned health minister utters. A case in point is this entity called Gramin Healthcare which is a firm based in Gurgaon with no state office in Meghalaya leave alone a liaison centre; everything is being handled by its ground staff who have encountered a lot of problems with this firm which claims to be a successful model. The company is being channelised by one Sonia Vohra who is supposedly close to some bureaucrats in the state. This firm has only Sohrarim to showcase since it was a project put up from the Smart Village Movement another bogus project which tends to “revolutionize” rural development but has failed to make any impact.

The corporatization of the health sector is fraught with dangerous trends if people in the government are concerned for their sidekicks and not for the overall interest of the rural masses. Gramin has coveted the project under the SVM model close to 34 crores as per reliable sources and has not been subject to public scrutiny. It has not procured a trading license from the KHADC. I wonder what the CEM, KHADC and his Council have been doing all these past years. If consultants like these are allowed to usurp the state resources it is no wonder that there’s heavy unemployment in most income generating areas like for example tourism as well. It is time for pressure groups and civil society to demand that all these outside firms and consultants be done away with and allow our young people to take on the challenge.

Yours etc.,

Francis Khonglah

Ex- IRS service officer

Shillong