By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Wansanlyngdoh, which comprises of 18 villages, resolved to stick to its demand of not joining the newly-created district of South West Khasi Hills citing distance from the headquarters, Mawkyrwat, as the main reason for the pull out.
In a meeting with the Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma here on Thursday, the JAC said that even though the state government is not in a position to change the order, the villagers will still continue to back their demand.
JAC president S Thongni said that the decision to stick with West Khasi Hills, with Nongstoin as the headquarters, was taken before the creation of South West Khasi Hills district.
“In this regard, we have sent a memorandum to the state government before and after the creation of a new district. But till date, no response has come from the government’s side”, Thongni added.
Citing distance from the headquarters as a major drawback of merging with the new district, Thongni said it will be difficult for the people who would have to travel for almost 10 hours to reach Mawkyrwat whereas it took only four hours for them to reach Nongstoin.
The JAC president also mentioned that as of now, the 18 villages are within the Nongstoin block but with a shift in the constituency, they will fall under Ranikor constituency and subsequently under the Ranikor block. This will put the villagers in great difficulty as the distance then would be almost twice that of Mawkyrwat.
“The motive of the government to create these news districts is to ease the problems of the people, however, in this case, it is making things worse”, Thongni added.
The JAC also slammed the MLA of Ranikor, MM Danggo for his inability to communicate the same to the state government even as he assured the people of the same.
