SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the processes of setting up of entry/exit points would take time and the government hence would prioritize setting up those points in critical and vulnerable areas first.
The state government held a meeting with the 13 NGOs on Thursday to discuss about the current status of the entry and exit points, the identified locations and the facilitation centers.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the meeting, Sangma said the process was complicated as there were lots of formalities such as land acquisition and public hearing.
However, he said the process was in the advanced stage and work was moving in many locations which are critical in nature.
The government has accorded priority to set up exit/entry points at certain areas which have more traffic and deemed more vulnerable.
“The government will strategically need to move in locations which have more traffic and more vulnerability first and then look at other entry/exit points also. In the long run, we will cover all,” Sangma said.
He informed the government had identified 41 locations and it would not be possible for the government to start work in all 41 locations because of land acquisition and financial constraints.
“But there are certain key areas which we need to move on, a number of 5-7 locations which are very critical ones where we would be in a position for land acquisition in about 2-3 months time,” he added.
“Land acquisition will be done in a very early date. We told them (the NGOs) it is a complicated process. But you will see that in the last few months, things have moved much faster than what happened in the last year. The NGOs want things to move slightly faster,” he said.
Sangma pointed to the financial implication for taking up the exercise such as land acquisition, land improvement, building and construction of the place, manpower.
“There are lots of challenges faced, even though the government wants to move at a certain pace. Things are moving in a very fast pace. It is not fair to give a time frame because land acquisition is very complicated process,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the first meeting with the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) president, Lambokstarwell Marngar said out of 41 locations identified to set up the entry/exit points, only one location has been finalized.
The NGOs demanded that the state government should expedite the setting up of extry/exit point and start the first phase of work.
“If the delay in setting up entry/exit point rests on excuses of land acquisition, then on the part of the NGOs, we will be compelled to set up our own entry/exit points,” Marngar said.
