By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 13: Leader of the Opposition, Mukul Sangma on Thursday exposed several loopholes in the state police, including its leniency in implementing the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA).
Moving a cut motion, he said the Act must be given more teeth to instil confidence in the minds of the indigenous people apprehensive of influx. He lamented the inability of the police to fill up the vacancies despite support and emphasised the need for timely and transparent recruitment.
Stressing the need to strengthen the outposts (BOPs) along the interstate and international borders, Sangma said the process of investigation in cases of crimes against women should be expedited as there is huge delay and backlog in terms of filing charge sheets.
He said many of the police personnel continue to live in small apartments, mostly 1BHK, with their families and insisted on providing them with at least 2BHK apartments. Sangma said traffic jams in Shillong are deterring people from visiting Shillong while criticising the government for not consulting the police before designing a road.
Calling for the constitution of a committee with the Transport and Urban Affairs Minister to design the road, he said although Tura was beautified recently, several footpaths have been encroached upon and there is no space for pedestrians to walk.
“We don’t know who the brilliant consultant is behind the Tura beautification projects,” Sangma quipped, adding that the safety of pedestrians must be of paramount importance to the government.
Trinamool Congress leader from Nongthymmai, Charles Pyngrope asked the Meghalaya Police personnel to be polite while dealing with the public, especially visitors.
Participating in the cut motion, he said one finds police jeeps behind numerous check gates from Mawryngkneng to Lad Umroi, which are purportedly operated by the KHADC. “What are the police stopping trucks for if no illegal trade of coal is going on? There are no check gates on other highways,” he said.
The TMC chief said he has apprised the Superintendent of Police of both the Ri-Bhoi and East Khasi Hills districts about the matter.
Admitting that the police work under difficult circumstances, he said they need to do their duties responsibly.
Pyngrope drew the attention of the government to the tendency of some police personnel to “argue and waste the time” of people in vehicles from Assam and elsewhere who take the wrong routes instead of helping them. He said such an attitude affects the Tourism department’s attempts to promote tourism in the state.
Stating that such incidents give the police a bad name, Pyngrope advised the department to deploy trained personnel in strategic locations.
“In Mawblei, all vehicles going to Silchar and Tripura, which do not have ML (Meghalaya) registration, are stopped. They have not broken any law. When I drive to Darjeeling, I am not stopped anywhere in Srirampur or Siliguri,” he said.
Referring to a recent incident outside his house where a truck entered a one-way road, he said that two police personnel were arguing with the driver instead of showing him the right way. He claimed that one of them was telling another to ask the trucker for money.
“I had to intervene and reprimand the police personnel,” he said.
In another incident, Pyngrope said a girl in the city approached him after she was made to pay a fine of Rs 500 to the personal Gpay number of a policeman for not possessing a licence.
He also said all police stations from Madanrting to Byrnihat have become graveyards of accident and theft vehicles. He asked the police to remove all such vehicles.