Editor,
It was good to see that Dominic Sangma’s name has finally been included in the list of two filmmakers to be visiting Cannes shortly. The Government was bound to cave in to the demands from the Garo community which questioned why Dominic Sangma’s name was not included in the recommendation. Without prejudice to the Department of Information & Public Relations which had recommended two names – Pradip Kurbah and Dominic Sangma, the question is why the Minister concerned has conceded to the names being changed and deflecting all from herself and her Government and laying the blame at the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which has no role in the selection. The Ministry had asked the State Government to recommend the names and the onus is that of the Department of I&PR to send the names of deserving film makers. As of now, the two filmmakers from Meghalaya are Commander Shangpliang and Dominic Sangma since Nicholas Kharkongor has pulled out of the race. As far as I know Commander Shangpliang has made one B-Grade film Khyndailad which is close to a soft porn. If that is the kind of film that the State believes will do it proud and if that film is perchance shown at Cannes I can imagine what people would think about the standard of film making in Meghalaya.
However, it is futile to expect Government of Meghalaya to be transparent and upfront in anything it does. There is always the sly moves of pushing underserving favourites for foreign jaunts. Someone the other day had written that the Meghalaya International Film Festival (MIFF) was conducted most perfunctorily and that vendors had not been paid. As a resident of Shillong I was shocked to see how Commander Shangpliang promoted himself during those days of the MIFF with standees carrying photographs of him staring from Police Bazar onwards up to the Soso Tham auditorium. Wow! This indeed is self promotion at its best! Will the Government make public the entire expenditure incurred in the MIFF and whether all payments have been duly cleared?
This is an example of what group solidarity can do for a good cause. Unfortunately our Khasi brothers and sisters are too divided and obsessed with the Roster system to even stand up for other issues.
Yours etc.,
LR Marak,
Via email
“STEMS” – A good initiative
Editor,
Traffic jam has become one of the major problems in the city. Since most of the people have to deal with it on a daily basis it negatively affects work, education and the personal lives of people. During school hours , we experience a slow pace of traffic especially in and around Laitumkhrah – Dhanketi road, where students attending school or college get late , people going to work often experiences delay and this results in a non – productive activity. Traffic congestion not only delays our daily work but it is also the main cause of wastage of fuel, air pollution and constant blowing of horns which creates excessive noise pollution.
Kudos to the Government of Meghalaya for incorporating STEMS (Sustainable Transport and Efficient Mobility Society) programme to run 30 school mini buses in order to reduce the congestion in Shillong city. This will not only decongest the traffic but will also help in reducing various forms of pollution which would disturb the surroundings. Developing a public transport system can really ease the matter especially for the students attending their classes. They can reach their school or colleges without being late, people can reach their work place in time. As of now , 15 schools have come forward to avail the services and we hope that it can be expanded to other parts of the state. Interested parents can register their children on STEMS web / mobile application. The application can be downloaded from Google Play store or IOS store. A point to be noted is that for the pilot phase, registrations are open for students from Class V onwards.
Through the innovation of the STEMS programme, let us hope that the system will work in a smooth , progressive and systematic manner and bring a change not only to the state but the entire country.
Yours etc.,
Alvinson P Syiem,
Shillong – 3
When will we have uninterrupted power supply?
Editor,
This load shedding has been going on in our state for quite a number of years now and we the consumers are fed up of this disruption. This time the timings for load shedding are so haphazard that we are not in a position to schedule our work hours. We would like to know from the Power Department the exact status of the MeECL so that we can be prepared to cope with the power cuts which actually interfere with our well-being. Load shedding is not a recent phenomenon. We have been experiencing it for many years. But we are kept in the dark about the real reasons for the power cuts. And we are still in the dark as to when we are going to be free from this load shedding. It actually amounts to continuous torture of our children as it has continued every year during this season. Load shedding is a nightmare to our children, the school and college students, not to speak of daring thefts and dacoity under cover of darkness. We are left with one option and that is to urge the MDA.2 Government to address this power deficit in Meghalaya once and for all. This chronic disease of our State must be attended to on an emergency basis. Other governments in the past too have tried to solve this matter but failed. That’s why in 2018 we elected a new Government with the hope that it will resolve this crisis but in vain.
The Government should start repairing the defective but repairable machine and replace the completely irreparable ones from the moment the load shedding is lifted but whatever it is we want an assurance that come 2024 there will be no more load shedding.
Yours etc.,
Louis Pyngrope,
Via email
Why the inconsistent load-shedding?
Editor
Earlier the load-shedding at night was scheduled from 12 AM to 5AM. But now for the last few days we fail to understand as to why the MEPDCL has resorted to rescheduling the timing i.e load shedding from 12 AM to 2 AM and 4 AM to 6 AM. Why is power restored from 2 AM to 4 AM. These are odd hours when people are not likely to use power. I request the MEPDCL to stick to the old timing of load shedding from 12 AM to 5 AM. Restoring power between 2 AM and 4 AM is unnecessary.
Yours etc.,
S.L. Singhania,
Via email