SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday declined to comment on the growing demand for abolishing the autonomous district councils, saying that the debate should have been initiated before Meghalaya attained statehood in 1972.
Asked for his opinion on the abolishment of the district councils, Sangma said, “This is not the right time to talk about it. At this point it is too late. The right time for debate was in 1972 when the statehood was granted.”
The chief minister maintained that district councils have now grown in stature as institutions of governance with their own powers, identity and areas of jurisdiction and functioning.
“Earlier the district councils were necessary mainly because we were part of Assam and the different tribes had to be given recognition. However, when statehood came, they should have been abolished but for whatever reason it did not happen. Now is not the right time to revive the debate,” he added.
The autonomous district councils in the state have become a subject of criticism as instability has become the order of the day and in the absence of any anti-defection law, MDCs get a free hand to switch allegiance from one alliance to the other leading to the collapse of the executive committee.
