By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 30: Former Karnataka minister and two-time former Lok Sabha member Chandrasekhar H Vijayashankar, who was sworn-in as the 21st Governor of Meghalaya on Tuesday, said he would aim to be known as “people’s governor”.
He assured that he will take into confidence the citizens of the state, not just the government and the bureaucracy.
He was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court Justice S Vaidyanathan.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, Deputy Chief Ministers Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar, other cabinet ministers, legislators and senior government officials.
Vijayashankar was elected to the Karnataka Assembly in 1994. He got elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 and then in 2004 from the Mysore constituency. He has also served as a cabinet minister in the Karnataka government.
Vijayashankar recalled that PA Sangma was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha when he was first elected to the parliament and now, as he took over as the Governor of Meghalaya, Sangma’s son Conrad is serving as the chief minister of the state.
“I know this family very well. The NDA Government is in power here and I will work to the best of my ability with the government and make sure to take everyone into confidence and concentrate on inclusivity and development,” he said, adding that, “I have no personal agenda, including political, here.”
Asked about insecurities among tribals in the state and their demand for the implementation of Inner Line Permit, the Governor said, “For your information I tell you, I also belong to same background. And I come from the same community. Nothing to worry. I know the regional issues here.”
Meanwhile, expectations run high as Vijayashankar took charge of his gubernatorial duties with the state awaiting the passage of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
In the wake of escalating incidents of pressure groups taking matters into their own hands and checking the documents of migrant workers in the state, UDP’s Nongpoh legislator, Mayralborn Syiem has made a fervent appeal to the new Governor to pursue the matter to its logical end.
Former Governor Satya Pal Malik had reserved the MRSSAB, which seeks to regulate the entry of people and their stay as tenants in the state, for assent by the President of India.
The Meghalaya Legislative assembly had unanimously passed the bill on March 19, 2020. It stressed on the need to verify and regulate the entry of persons to Meghalaya and also to monitor and regulate tenants or any other persons residing in rented houses or any other places in the state apart from the existing provisions of the Principal Act.
The bill says that every person who intends to stay in Meghalaya for more than 48 hours shall furnish information in the manner prescribed under the rules.
It also maintained that “every person” shall not be construed to mean persons who has been residing permanently in the state and includes his or her relative or members of family, members of Parliament, members of state assemblies, members of judiciary, who is employed with the state government or the union government, who is employed under a board, corporation, society, organisation or agency, partly or wholly owned by the state or union government, professionals like medical practitioners, lawyers, chartered accountants, architects, attorneys, engineers, consultants by donor or funding agencies or any other professionals and any other category, class of persons, individuals, which may be notified by the government from time to time.
The bill further says that any person who wilfully fails to furnish the information or provides false formation as required as per section 4A shall be liable to be punished under section 176 and /or section 177 (knowingly furnishing false information to a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.