From Our Correspondent

 DADENGGRE: Meghalaya Power and Transport Minister, Abu Taher Mondal on Thursday inaugurated the Mass Weavers Registration and Mega Health Camp organised by the Directorate of Sericulture and weaving and ICICI Lombard in collaboration with the District Handloom Officer, West Garo Hills at Selsella.

The registration camp is being organised to ascertain the number of weavers in the region so as to enable their inclusion on Public Private Partnership mode in various interventions under the government’s flagship programme the Integrated Basin Development and Livelihood Programme. Informing this Mondal urged the masses to make maximum use of government schemes that have been formulated for the benefit of the people.

Creation of ample opportunities for the weavers is the main aim of organizing this camp. The weavers will be given a support system by the government through concerned departments for inter-linking with designers. Mondal informed that the government will look out for skilled weavers and provide them professional training to further enhance their skill to compete at a larger scale.

He said that value added services would be given to the finished woven produces of the region for greater value so as to enable weavers to generate more income by selling the products themselves and eliminate the middlemen.

Mondal further mentions that seed money of Rs 5, 000 will be given to every female head of the family under IBDLP to pursue an income generation activity.

By Our Reporter

 SHILLONG: In an internal tussle of the Shella Dorbar Shong, the acting Wahadadar of Shella Confederacy Wanllamphrang Lyngdoh suspended the Shella Dorbar Shnong secretary, Tobias Tiewdoh, for allegedly going against the constitution of the Dorbar.

The acting Wahadadar took this call following a complaint lodged by a section of the village members who had expressed disappointment over the autocratic rule of the secretary.

Following the suspension, Lyngdoh is also contemplating to call an emergent meeting of the Dorbar Shnong for election of an acting secretary and other members.

Meanwhile, denying the allegation put against him, the suspended Dorbar secretary on Thursday said that the move was a ploy “to forcefully evict him from the post”.

While criticizing the decision, he said that the acting Wahadadar has been influenced by the former secretary, Kondro Ksanlah, to act against him.

“We are planning to urge the KHADC to remove the acting Wahadadar who has been misusing his position”, the secretary said.

From Our Correspondent

TURA: A fishing competition-cum-food festival was held at Dachi Lake Resort, Anogre in West Garo Hills on Tuesday. The event was organized by the Divisional Office, Soil & Water Conservation (Territorial), Tura to raise funds for maintenance and upkeep of the Resort.

It may be mentioned that the construction of Dachi Lake project was started in 2009 and the project was funded by the District Administration through DRDA, Tura under RSVY scheme. Deputy Director of Soil & Water Conservation,  Shekhar K. Sangma, who is the brain behind the project, had said that the objective of the project was to promote tourism in the region as well as to create livelihood opportunities for the local people.

The proceeds from the fishing-cum-food festival event would be handed to the Joint Management Committee for maintenance of the lake, he said.

From Our Correspondent

 TURA: Former Minister and a prominent senior citizen, Mariam D Shira while addressing the gathering at the celebration of International Day for Older Persons organised by the Social Welfare Deportment in collaboration with Information and Public Relations, Tura, had said that people are living longer these days as compared to four or five decades back and as such the numbers of older people are growing day by day.

There are certain aspects of this trend that have an overwhelming affect on the present society and there is a need to ensure certain degree of social benefits to the aged. Speaking on government interventions for the aged and infirm Shira stated that the government of India has provided various schemes to aid older persons live with dignity and purpose. It is up to the people to decide whether to avail these benefits or not Shira. Elaborating on the objectives of the programme, District Social Welfare Officer, L M Sangma stated that the day was being celebrated to commemorate the older persons for their contributions in making a better society.

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.

From Our Correspondent

 NONGSTOIN: The members of three primary units of the Congress in Mawshynrut Assembly constituency are crying foul over the recent announcement of the names of party ticket applicants by election observers during a meeting held at Riangdo.

In the meeting, Methodious Dkhar was elected as the favourite candidate by members of the primary units of the constituency from amongst the five applicants which included Srally Rashir and Pelcy Snaitang.

The presidents and general secretaries of Swangre, Rongkhugre and Riangdim primary units, who are supporting Snaitang, have alleged that Mawshynrut Block Congress Committee (MBCC) vice president H L Nongsiang had disallowed them from attending the meeting while refusing to acknowledge the presence of such primary units in the constituency. They further alleged that Nongsiang had attempted to bribe other members of the primary units to vote for Dkhar while warning to dissolve the MBCC and expel them from current posts if his orders were not followed.

It may be mentioned that Snaitang had received the support of only nine primary units during the meeting.

Meanwhile, refuting the allegations, MBCC vice president, HL Nongsiang said that the concerned primary units were not yet approved by the MBCC and hence were disallowed to vote in the meeting. Nongsiang added that during the presidentship of Srally Rashir, 32 primary units were approved and eight more were added now thus bringing the total number of approved and recognized primary units to 40.

From Our Correspondent

 TURA: A miscreant entered a temple of Goddess Kali at Phulbari market and broke the tongue of the idol causing much uproar in the area on Wednesday.

The blasphemous act enraged the Hindu population of the area and the Phulbari Peace Committee intervened on time to curb any possible ethnic clash here.

Later the Central Peace Committee along with the police nabbed the culprit at around 2:00 am on Thursday and brought him to the Phulbari Police Station.

Later, the Phulbari Hindu Committee demanded that the accused be kept in police custody till after the elections. However, after a long discussion with the police, the public appealed to the concerned community to ‘forgive and forget’ the incident in order to maintain peace and communal harmony in the area.

The arrested person was later handed over to the Tura Police.