SHILLONG: The shop owners of Police Bazar, reeling under depleted transactions and some apathetic decisions of the administration, say they feel orphaned since their local MLA, Adelbert Nongrum, hardly visits the area and has not taken up their case with government.
They point out the stark difference between near-normal and commerce in Laitumkhrah supposedly because of the advocacy of local MLA and express their dismay at the indifference of their MLA.
‘‘When Ms Roshan Warjri was our MLA, she would visit us from time to time to find out if there was anything that was wanted in the area. After all, the task of an MLA is to help the constituents. We are suffering for the past six months since our shops are not being allowed to fully open up,” said a shop owner in Police Bazar. Other shop owners echoed similar sentiments.
When approached for his response, Adelbert Nongrum said barring one time when the Association of shop owners of Police Bazar met him regarding reopening of shops, they had never brought their grievances to him.
“I am the MLA of the entire constituency and it is my commitment to serve my constituents, no matter what community they are from. I really want to prove myself. In fact when government said that MLAs would be involved in leading the fight against COVID-19 in our respective constituencies, I was encouraged but the government has not yet notified this,” Nongrum said.
The MLA said that as far as COVID-19 management was concerned, there was need to learn from the past and rectify the loopholes.
“I am aware that some hawkers in Police Bazar were not wearing masks and were crowding, hence all the shops in Police Bazar were closed down the next day. It is better that all shops are opened than a few shops at a time because that results in crowding,” Adelbert said, adding that government should find a space for hawkers soon.
