From Our Correspondent
TURA, July 13: The BJP state vice president, Bernard Marak, has come down heavily on the state government for its order to close business establishments after 10 pm in the entire East Khasi Hills district.
The Tura MDC’s salvo comes in the wake of protests by hawkers in Shillong over the direction by the East Khasi Hills district administration to shut shops by 10 pm in an effort to curb lawlessness.
“Imposing restrictions is not the right decision as the hawkers and night shift earners who are not even connected to the incident and are left paralyzed in their quest for survival. This is their only source of livelihood and it is at stake. If a trivial incident is allowed to gain such magnanimous status, then it completely exposes the collective administrative failure of the state,” said Bernard through a press communiqué.
He asked if shutting shops early was really a solution.
“What if another incident similar to this breaks out at 8:00 pm? Will the timing of shutdown be revised to 6pm and so on? Instead of finding an effective and modern mechanism to curb such incidents while maintaining the safety of its citizens, the government has gone years back in time with such a step,” the BJP MDC remarked.
“The question of assuring and restoring tranquility is way out of scope as it seems for now, but it has gone one step ahead by creating a fear factor on the minds of the people for their own safety. For such a small brawl why should the entire city be punished. We request the government to revoke this order in the interest of the people whose lives are now at stake,” he appealed.
It is pertinent here to mention that according to latest report, the state government has allowed the shops in some localities to open till 11.30 pm.