SHILLONG: The State Government is open to dialogues with pressure groups to clear the doubts over measures taken to address the problem of influx in the context of protest against railway, senior Cabinet minister Prestone Tynsong said.
Tynsong also appealed to the KSU to stop violence and any sort of disturbance.
“Let us be constructive or else development will be hampered. Let us not show the world that we are negative. For clarifying any doubts, the Government is open to dialogue and discussion. Let us sort out the problem across the table,” Tynsong told The Shillong Times.
He also said Meghalaya should not miss the opportunity of getting railway this time.
“If the Centre says we are withdrawing the project, we cannot do anything further. And when we realise that we need railway at a later stage, it will be too late,” the minister added.
With protests continuing against the railway project in the State, Tynsong said the government is on the job of setting up of entry and exit points. He, however, admitted that there are hurdles in land acquisition.
The minister said during the last meeting on the matter that he attended, a status of the issue was updated.
“The issues related to land acquisition were highlighted and now, we are almost at the final stage of completion of the process of land identification,” Tynsong said.
He appealed to the KSU to be patient as construction of the railway will take time and the entry and exit points will be ready by then.
“We are committed to checking influx and in this regard, a series of meetings and negotiations is being carried out with all the stakeholders. We also need to take along the headmen, landowners and negotiations for land are taking a long time,” he said.
According to Tynsong, KSU or any other civil society groups are not against introduction of railway line and their demand is to have a blueprint so that influx does not take place in the State. “This has been attended to but will take some more time,” he said.
Tynsong said the government is also concerned about influx and hence wants to bring in a permanent solution.
