From Our Correspondent

 JOWAI: It was confirmed on Sunday that the fourteen-year-old girl found lying on the roadside at Wahmynsoo near Mookyndur village on Saturday evening was gangraped by three unidentified miscreants who had forced her into their truck at Lad-Jalyiah near Ladrymbai.

The girl was also robbed of Rs 2000 along with her clothes before she was dumped on the roadside.

The girl who hailed from Thadmynri village near Khanduli is working at one illegal wine shop cum tea stall at Lad-Jalyiah near Ripnar Service Station.

She informed that she was sent to Ladrymbai to buy chickens from Ladrymbai and while she was on her way, some unknown persons from inside a coal laden truck dragged her forcibly into it.

“I tried to scream for help but they insert a piece of cloth in my mouth”, she said.

According to the girl, there were four persons inside the truck who took her to a deserted place at Wahmynsoo, some distance from the National highway on the Sung valley road and three of them raped her.

“One of the old man put a dagger on my neck and threatened to kill me if I screamed”, she said adding that the man with the dagger helped the other three commit the crime.

The girl further informed that she had tried to scream when the truck halted at 7th Mile weighbridge but they held her hand and inserted a piece of cloth in her mouth.

At that moment, another truck stoped and asked them to leave the girl but they were threatened.

“Two occupants in the truck asked them to let me go or hand me over to them so that they could send me home safely, but left immediately when they were treathened.

Again on reaching Thadlaskein she tried to escape by jumping from the truck but was dragged again.

Meanwhile, though the police is investigating the matter, nio formal complaint was filed regarding the same till the filing of this report.

Later on Sunday evening, members of the Jaintia Students Union visited the girl and strongly condemned the incident and requested the police to traced all accused persons.

According to reports on Saturday, the girl was stated to be a 15-year-old but her father confirmed on Sunday that his daughter was actually a 14-year-old.

Barpeta (Assam): BJP on Sunday charged the Tarun Gogoi-led Assam government with failure on the law and order front and demanded resignation of the chief minister.

“The chief minister, who also holds the home portfolio, has failed in ensuring law and order in Assam,” BJP state committee spokesperson Sarbananda Sonowal told reporters here.

At the state BJP executive committee’s two-day meeting here, the former Lok Sabha MP said the Gogoi government had assured that women in Assam would get adequate protection.

“But during 2006-2011, 11,553 women were kidnapped and 7,163 women raped in the state. As home minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi totally failed to administrate the police force properly,” Sonowal claimed, adding that incidents of murder, theft and dacoity were on a rise in the state.

“Such a chief minister should resign from his post as he had failed in all fronts,” he alleged.

The BJP has also demanded that work on the upgradation of the National Register of Citizens in Assam should be taken up immediately. (PTI)

2013 here we come

Debates about who to elect in 2013 have started on Facebook. Sadly the debate often degenerates into a politician bashing game by a set of holier than thou lot. Only one MLA is praised for starting a hunger strike on the ongoing border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya. These debates on Facebook lack substance because they do not care to mobilize people on how to overcome muscle and money power in 2013. Each facebooker tries to outdo the other by coming up with stinkers on MLAs/ministers. The feeling one gets is that all MLAs are sinners and the rest of us are saints. This saint –sinner debate is hardly likely to change things in the rural areas where people do not vote on issues and all these Facebook discussions are non-sequitur. There is a sharp divide between what urbanites consider important and how the rural folks vote. Be that as it may, all wannabe MLAs for 2013 have started ploughing their constituencies and sowing seeds, the fruits of which, they believe will be ready to harvest by February 2013. The stunts used by some of the prospective candidates are unbelievably strange. But like they say, “All’s fair in love and war.”

 Paying Bills BSF style

Sometime last week an ambulance belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF) entered the road adjacent the Hydari Park with the siren blaring. All cars gave right of way thinking at first that it was the 108 GVK ambulance. After going some distance a BSF jawan got off the ambulance and entered the office of the BSNL to pay the telephone/mobile bills even while the ambulance drove ahead and stopped for a while. The ambulance returned to pick up the jawan who had paid the bill and the driver started the siren going all over again. This reporter was aghast at the audacity of a disciplined security force to misuse the ambulance and to flaunt power. The BSF jawans inside the ambulance were sure that no one noticed their misdemeanour. But they were caught by candid camera. What will people not do to beat the traffic jam! But what they forget is that the rule of law is not optional. Every citizen is bound by those laws and the BSF even more so.

 World Environment Day

Environmental degradation has suddenly taken a new meaning for the public for organizations and institutions, as each one of them seems to have observed World Environment Day on June 5. The irony is that those who have ruined the environment in Meghalaya and have now made it big in life are the very people giving lectures on environmental conservation. In fact those who have destroyed the environment to enrich themselves belong to the anti-environment mafia and such include even those in the Forest Department who give clearances for limestone and coal extraction inside forest land. Sadly such bureaucrats are also seen planting a measly sapling on June 5 as if in expiation for their sins. The way things are going, the day is not far when the HNLC Chief who sends emails from neighboring Bangladesh on 26 January and 15 August, asking people to boycott these national days might be invited to inaugurate the High Court of Meghalaya in the near future.

 Of killer Sumos and speeding bikes

The Tata Sumos travelling on the Shillong-Guwahati highway are killers. They drive so recklessly that most other drivers have to be wary that they are not pushed off the road. Some of them drive at 80 kmph in those parts of the highway where they have been warned to go at 40 kmph. Interestingly the motorbike borne traffic police of Meghalaya that were much talked and who are expected to control speeding of vehicles are nowhere to be seen. People wonder how many such riders there are per district and how they manage to keep themselves unidentified. Meanwhile the Shillong public is suddenly overwhelmed by speeding motorbikes with their silencers intentionally pulled off. These bikers are a danger to themselves and to others on the road. They create severe noise pollution. Is there any traffic rule under which they can be booked?

Morigaon (Assam): A police officer was on Sunday arrested for allegedly opening fire at a crowd which surrounded him after his vehicle collided with another car in Morigaon district of Assam.

Police said Bhaktiram Kakoty, a circle inspector, was caught by the public at Moirabari town, in upper Assam, this afternoon after his car crashed into another vehicle.

Kakoty then fired into the crowd before he was overpowered by the public and handed over to the police.

There was no report of any serious injury in the firing.

Kakoty had been absent from duty without permission for the past 71 days, they said. (PTI)

By Our Reporter

 SHILLONG: The State Government has finally prepared the draft hawkers policy which is expected to effectively tackle the menace of hawkers in the city.

Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh recently said that the officers from State Urban Affairs department had attended a meeting in New Delhi to discuss the policy. “We are waiting for the resolutions of the meeting so that we can expedite the entire process,” Lyngdoh said. The proposed hawkers policy is expected to streamline the menace of hawkers who are involved in roadside business in different areas of the city which adds to congestion and chaos.

The main feature of the proposed bill would be to safeguard the rights of the hawkers besides defining the role of the government in their approach to the hawkers issue. Reacting to a query, Lyngdoh said that the State has to follow the all India Hawkers policy but the police will have to be modified in the context of the current situation in the state as the Government often finds it tough to acquire land in the state.

This proposed policy would also talk about certain demarcated areas in the city which can be converted into a hawker-free zone.

“We also have to consider the Rehabilitation package in view of the situation in the state,” she added.

SHILLONG: The election Committee of the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), in its meeting held recently, has decided to invite application from all those who are seeking ticket from the party for the upcoming election to the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly 2013.