GUWAHATI: The Ri Bhoi District Congress Committee (RBDCC) has decided to follow up certain key issues with the state government, including speeding up the process of boundary talks with Assam.
The RBDCC, comprising five block Congress committees, in its executive committee meeting held on Saturday, also decided to strengthen the party from the grassroots and start the enrolment process for all members.
In a statement issued on Sunday, RBDCC president and Nongpoh MLA, Mayralborn Syiem said the committee would soon write to the Meghalaya government to speed up dialogue on the long-pending boundary issues with Assam.
“The party emphasised the need to tackle the border dispute in Block II in Mawhati constituency and a portion of Jirang constituency so that the people of the area would not be affected. At the same time, the party reiterated that villages in the disputed areas also should be accorded importance by the government through various development activities of departments,” the statement said.
The executive committee meeting also decided to follow up matters related to distressed farmers in the state. “The government should facilitate markets for farm produce in Ri Bhoi like ginger, pineapple, vegetables and items such as broomsticks. At the same time, the government should supply free seeds and power tillers to farmers especially during the period of lockdown,” it said.
With regard to the increasing amount of electricity bills, the committee will urge MeECL to look into the matter so that the consumers are not affected.
The committee will urge the state government to provide a special package to citizens of the state who do not avail ration cards.
The committee also said that it would request the state government to immediately pay the promised amount of Rs 1000 per week to the registered labourers and Rs 700 per week to the unorganised labourers.
“At the same time, wages of the casual employees and muster roll workers in different departments must be paid immediately,” it said.
In regard to COVID-19, the committee stated that it would urge the state government to expedite all possible ways to help citizens affected by the pandemic as mandated under the National Disaster Management Act 2005, as it is a notified disaster.
“The government should immediately pay Rs 5000 each to all active community quarantine centres. It should keep proper vigil on screening centres so that no unauthorised person can enter the state because there have been reports that many unauthorised vegetable vendors and cloth vendors had entered the state,” the statement added.
