JOWAI, July 21: The demand to make Tura the “Winter Capital” of the state has sparked a chain reaction with similar demands now surfacing from the Jaintia Hills.
The A’chik Conscious Holistically Integrated Krima (ACHIK) has been staging a hunger strike for the past 11 days demanding a Winter Capital in Tura on the ground that the same was promised by the founding fathers of Meghalaya.
Taking a cue from ACHIK, the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC), Jaintia Hills unit has asked the state government to designate Jowai as the “Autumn Capital” of Meghalaya, while the Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU) has demanded that Jowai be declared the state’s “Summer Capital”.
The HYC argued that Jaintia Hills sends seven MLAs to the Assembly and has its own autonomous district council with strength of 30 members which is on a par with the Garo Hills region.
“This is a reasonable ground for our demand for granting ‘Autumn Capital of the state’ tag to Jowai,” the HYC said.
“This will ensure the flow of more development work to the Jaintia Hills region and the opportunity for the establishment of more administrative offices in the district, which will ultimately benefit the citizens of the two districts and ensure timely delivery of administrative services. People will no longer need to travel to Shillong for any administrative work,” the HYC reasoned out.
The HYC believed the “Autumn Capital” status will be advantageous for the youth of the two districts as it will help generate more employment opportunities and benefit students as the education sector will be given more emphasis.
The JSU contended that the Jaintia Hills region deserves to be recognized as the “Summer Capital”. It said despite generating substantial revenue from its natural resources, such as coal, limestone, and cement plants, the region has not experienced commensurate development when compared to other regions within the state.
