By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 23: Eight months after forming the government for the second time in succession, the NPP-led MDA 2.0 has been unable to resolve any of the pressing issues in the state.
Among the issues is the relocation of the Harijan Colony since the 2018 conflict in the area. The matter went to court, which asked the government and the Harijan Panchayat Committee to work out a solution outside the court. The issue is yet to be resolved and a meeting for relocation of the settlers is being awaited.
The Inner-Line Permit issue has wrapped in uncertainty as the Centre has not spelled out whether or not it would be approved for Meghalaya. Five years ago during its first term, the MDA convened a special Assembly session to pass a resolution to urge the Centre to implement the ILP in the state.
Several meetings between a high-level state delegation and the Prime Minister as well as the Union Home Minister have not yielded any result on the ILP front.
The status of an Assembly resolution adopted to urge the Centre to include the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution has been similar. What has been learned is that the two languages are on the list of tongues being considered for recognition.
In 2022, the Meghalaya government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its Assam counterpart to settle six of the 12 disputed sectors along the interstate boundary. The pact was allegedly pushed despite protests from the affected border residents.
The government constituted the regional committees for resolving the dispute in the remaining six sectors during the second phase of discussions. The talks have not progressed much.
Another major issue unresolved is of traffic snarls in Shillong, inviting criticism from the High Court of Meghalaya. A plan to construct a skywalk has been put on hold while the construction of a flyover as part of the Shillong-Dawki road project is yet to start. The MDA 2.0 has failed to complete and implement the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme Phase-III which is expected to address the problem of water scarcity in various localities within the Shillong agglomeration.
The fresh deadline set for completion of the much-delayed project is 2024. But it appears doubtful considering the government’s failure in meeting deadline on numerous occasions.
However, the biggest failure of the current dispensation would perhaps be the Shillong Medical College and Hospital work for which is yet to start.
It remains an irony that after 51 years of Statehood, Meghalaya does not have a medical college and hospital.
The SMCH, conceived over 12 years ago, is yet to be built. The government has scrapped the MoU signed with Kolkata-based KPC Group and is set to issue a fresh tender for the same. The Tura Medical College, which is under construction, is not coming up anytime soon if the indications are anything to go by.
The issue of coal mining continues to be a hot topic in Meghalaya ever since the NGT banned rat-hole mining in Meghalaya. The Congress government during its tenure from 2013 to 2018 could not restart the coal mining in the state after which the MDA Government took over in 2018 and ever since then, the state is still waiting for scientific mining to start in Meghalaya. Though some coal miners have received necessary approvals from the government, the coal mining in Meghalaya is yet to see the light of the day.
Even the hawkers’ problems till date have not been resolved in Shillong, although the government is only giving timelines to make Police Bazar a hawker-free zone. In the meantime, the number of hawkers in the city is only increasing; and now they can be found occupying new locations as well. Even Laitumkhrah area is completely overrun by hawkers.
As far as railways is concerned, the other Northeastern states are inching closer towards connecting their capital cities with railways, the state government more or less seems to have abandoned the idea of connecting Shillong with railways, while consultations with dissenting pressure groups is yet to see fruition.
The government is playing safe insofar as railways are concerned. It is not making its intentions clear about either it accepts or rejects rail-linking Shillong. Their latest plan to introduce railways in Jaintia Hills is also faced with stiff opposition from the groups.
Air connectivity seems to be another area where the pace of development is tardy. For ages, the government has been talking about expanding the Shillong Airport at Umroi to pave way for bigger aircrafts to land. However, till date, the Umroi airport due to its smaller runway caters to only ATR 72 aircrafts.
Even in the road sector, a lot has been planned but a majority of these road projects continue to remain only in papers and DPRs (detailed project reports). Also, there is hardly any execution of major road projects in the state whether it is the Shillong-Dawki road project or the Western Bypass.