Governor Bhishma Narain Singh has said that he would make relentless efforts to ensure that on no account the people lost their faith in the gubernatorial office.

In an exclusive interview to The Shillong Times, the 50 year old sprightly politician-turned Governor said that contrary to popular belief, the Governors were not the ‘agents of the President”. He quoted from the Governors’ conference of 1971 to make his point. The framers of Constitution, Mr Singh said, had equipped the Governors with a lot of authority under their elbows. But it was left at the discretion of the incumbent to invoke the powers at the right time and in a right manner. “I am fully aware of my authority as well as my limitation. I will not act like Mohammed Bin Tughlak,” he added.

Mr Singh said in reply to one question that as the “guardian of the State” it was his primary concern to see that he inspired confidence in the minds of the people and set up examples for the Government to accelerate the process of development. “I am totally against maintaining status quo when it comes to economic development. At the Governor it is my bounded duty to ensure that the process of development is further accelerated. Unless I do that people will start losing confidence in the office of the Governor.”

“I have not come here to enjoy tribal dances and merry-making I shall not allow grass to grow below my feet,” Mr Singh made it plain.

He said that he was all for austerity, although the Constitution provided for a great deal of liberal financial powers. “The Governor’s accounts are not audited and I can jolly well spend as much as I wish to. Here, I exercise my discretion and restraint”. As a concrete step, the Governor said that he had discontinued the use of imported cars in order to save some precious fuel. He does not use helicopters where cars can take him. Besides, he has discontinued the system of keeping an exclusive accommodation at Delhi. Instead, he has retained his allotted MP’s quarter and is paying for it from his own account. “Mr Hiteshwar Saikia requested me `not to insult the people of Assam’ by refusing to accept an official accommodation. But I stood firm about it.” The Governor is entitled to take his own cook, orderly and an additional helping hand when he is on tour to Delhi. But Mr Singh has preferred to forego the privilege.

Asked what come first in his priority list, Mr Singh said that he was primarily trying to create “an atmosphere for new development tempo”. Says the Governor, “the north-east is most fortunate to have four-tier development agencies. Apart from the financial allocations from Centre and the State, there were District Councils and the North-Easter Council. Besides, we have very fine people here. All things put together the region is all set for taking massive developmental strides.”

NEC Meeting

The Meghalaya Chief Minister, Captain W.A. Sangma has deprecated the sloppy performance of the Third Level Air Service in the North-East. Participating at the 24th meeting of the North Eastern Council here on Sept 29, he regretted that air service, which was introduced primarily for the region, had cut a sorry figure.

Captain Sangma said that the remote areas of the North East were still left out of the purview of the air service. He called upon the NEC to take initiative to improve the situation.

He also focused the attention of the Council to the failing telecommunication of services in the region. The tele-link between state capital and the district headquarters was “very poor.”

Captain Sangma referred to the ban in respect of creation of new posts imposed by the Centre, and pleaded that such moratorium should not be imposed in the North-East. The NEC Secretary, Mr P H Trivedi told the meeting that the Council was planning to purchase on Dornier air craft in the 7th Plan to strengthen the services in the isolated areas.

Earlier, inaugurating the meeting, the NEC Chairman, Mr Bhishma Narayan Singh said that NEC draft plan for 7th Plan had an outlay of Rs. 979.31 crores. Of these nearly 85% would be earmarked for transport, communication, manpower water and power development schemes.

Mr Singh said that the outlook for power generation was favorable with the commissioning of Loktak and one unit (25 MW) of Kopili project.

General K.V. Krishna Road, Governor of Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur, urged for “special consideration” for the border States like Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura for allocating funds from the NEC in view of their comparative backwardness and isolation. General Road suggested working out of a system to ensure cost effectiveness so that the best use is made of limited fund available.

Among others to address the meeting were the Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr Rishang Keishing, the Lt. Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Mr T.V. Rajeswar, the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Mr S.C. Jamir the Chief Minister of Assam, Mr Hiteswar Saikia the Lt. Governor of Mizoram, Mr H S Dubey, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Mr Gagong Apang, Chief Minister of Tripura, Mr Nripen Chakraborty and Chief Minister of Mizoram, Mr Lal Thanhawla.

Former Indian envoy in Burma, Mr G G Swell, has expressed his desire to come back to active politics. He has conveyed this desire to the Chief Minister Captain W.A. Sangma. Mr Swell called on the Chief Minister lately in this connection and is believed to have sought his help in getting okay from the PM.

Mr Swell, who is presently camping here, was to have taken up his assignment in Canada. The Centre changed its mind and offered him posting in an European country. But Mr Swell preferred Japan.

Sources said that Mr Medistar Warbah, the lone representative of Mr Swell’s PDIC in the present Ministry, had filed an application on behalf of Mr Swell for Congress (I) ticket for the Shillong parliamentary seat. The MPCC (I) sources said that party has since extended the last date for receiving of applications till Sept 30 for enabling Swell to stake his claim.

Apparently, Mr Swell is awaiting Mrs Gandhi’s clearance for submitting his application seeking primary membership of the party.

Meanwhile, some posters have appeared in some parts of town reminding the “unparallel” contribution of Mr Swell towards development of Meghalaya.

It may be recalled that the Jaintia Hills (DCC(I) had recommended to the PCC(I) to allot party ticket to Mr. Swell, even though he is not a partyman.

Reports of “serious (financial) irregularities and unauthorized purchases” in some of the Divisions of the Public Works Department of Meghalaya are causing concern to the State Govt.

In a recent circular, the State PWD Secretary has cautioned all Superintending Engineer’s against overstepping their financial limits. The circular instructed the officers that “no materials should be purchased charging to stock.” It also directed them to educe “heavy expenditure” against suspense head and also to stop `excess over the authorized stock limit.”

The directive further says that all SEs should check and scrutinize monthly purchase statements. The direct purchases should be “absolute minimum”.

Sources said that there were concrete evidences of unauthorized purchases in the Jowai and Tura PWD Divisions. In one specific case, in 1980-81 the then Superintending Engineer of the Jowai Division had purchased excess materials of over Rs. 1 crore. The materials included among other items leakproof agent and thermometers.

The Govt. had set up an official enquiry body which pinpointed some glaring irregularities. The report was sent to the officer concerned for his explanation. The explanations are being examined by yet another committee constituted recently drawn from middle-management officers of PWD and Finance Departments. The State Enquiry Officer has also been entrusted to conduct a probe into the matter, sources added.

The Cabinet Secretariat recently examined the question of making payment to the pending bills of that period amounting to over Rs. 23 lakhs. Sources said that the payment has been withheld pending submission of report by a team of officials about the quality and present condition of the materials.

As in the past, the district administration of East Khasi Hills has decided to regulate the timings of Durga Puja celebration this year also.

The Deputy Commissioner Mr J. Tayeng told a meeting of the various Puja Committees here on Sept 12 that the arti would have to be completed within 8:00 PM, while the entertainment programmes would have to be winded up not later than 11:00 PM. The Puja Committees would be permitted to use loudspeaker, where necessary, on low pitch.

Regarding immersion, the committees would be allowed to carry images to the immersion ghat only on four-wheelers. There would be no restriction on the number of vehicles per committee. However, all immersions will have to be completed with in 5:00 PM.

Governor B. Narain Singh attributed the sustained peace and tranquility in the state to the administration’s “efficient functioning and vigilance”. He commended the administration and urged them to keep it up.

Mr Singh, who was inaugurating the three-day meeting of the Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, and Sub Divisional Officers here on Sept 10, also called for all-out effort to prevent any sort of communal and inter-group clashes. “The policy of the government is to ensure protection to all section of the population living in the state, without any discrimination, and irrespective of their religion, caste or creed,” he added.

While the primary concern of the district and sub-divisional authorities is “maintenance of law and order,” Mr Singh stressed upon them the need to give due attention to” such aspects of administration which are connected with the economic development of the area” under their control.

Referring to the 20-point programme of the Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, which “is designed to improve the quality of day to day living of the common people,” Mr Singh said that the district and sub divisional authorities “are expected to take keen and personal interests in implementation of various items of this programme in their respective areas.

The Chief Minister, Capt W.A. Sangma, who presided over the function said the deputy commissioners should have, what he called, `a mirror of the district’ which would project at a glance all the vital data and statistics of the area under them.

The need for officers at the district level to have regular monthly meetings in which they would be able to effectively assess their achievements and requirement, was also stressed by Capt Sangma. He said the need for monitoring progress of schemes and programmes being implemented was very important since this not only helped them to assess their progress but also to help each other overcome bottlenecks.

Reminding the offices that the people at the district level understood the government through the district officers, Capt Sangma said if officers are not effective in their work and helpful to the people it would be the government which would get a bad name.

He also endorsed the views of the governor on the need for maintenance of communal peace and harmony at all cost. The government would not be able to go ahead with developmental progrmames and schemes unless social peace and harmony is ensured, he added.

Earlier the Meghalaya Home Minister, Mr D D Lapang, said that Meghalaya is the most peaceful state in the entire north eastern region. He attributed this to the devotion and dedicated service by the administrative machinery in the state.

Governor Bhishma Narain Singh has emphatically suggested that the family welfare education should be extended to the teenagers, adolescents in schools so as to be able to make a dent in the psyche of the future generation.

Mr Singh was inaugurating a three-day national workshop on population education here on Sept 7 at the idyllic Mayurbhanj campus of NEHU.

He said that steps should be taken in right earnest to make the people aware of the cause and consequences of unplanned population growth. A number of steps should be carried out to increase their knowledge and to change the attitude of the students, youths and adults regarding issues concerning population. He pleaded for inclusion of relevant contents in text books, training of teachers and projection of the theme through the media. The workshop which is the fourth of its kind to be held in the country, has been sponsored by the UGC. A number of delegates from various parts of the country attending it.

Delivering the Keynote address, the NEHU Vice Chancellor, Dr B D Sharma, informed that the Planning Commission had decided to take 1971census figures, instead of the latter figure, as point of reference for its economic planning. This is so done as to curb the tendency among certain states to raise the population with a view of obtaining larger financial allocation.

The 24th meeting of the North Eastern Council will be held here at the Conference Room of the Meghalaya Civil Secretariat, on September 29, next.The Council meeting will as usual be presided over by its Chairman Mr Bhishma Narain Singh. It will be attended by the Chief Minister and Lt. Governors of the constituent units of the North Eastern Region. The Governor of Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, Gen K.V. Krishna Rao will also attend the meeting.

Representatives of various Ministries of the Government of India, various Public Sectors Organisations of the Government of India, Railway Board and P&T Board will also be in the meeting.

Besides reviewing the physical and financial progress of the NEC schemes implemented during 1983-84, the Council will discuss the draft Seventh Plan of the North Eastern Council and the Annual Plan for 1985-86.

The Council meeting to be preceded on September 28, by official level discussion in which the agenda of the meeting will be discussed by the Secretary of the North Eastern Council, Mr P H Trivedi with the Chief Secretaries and the Development Commissioners of the constituent units of North Eastern Region.

A 50-bedded district hospital at Williamnagar in East Garo Hills District will be inaugurated on September 14 by the Meghalaya Chief Minister, Capt W.A. Sangma, at a function to be presided by the Health Minister Mr Sandford K. Marak.

PHE Scandal

The official enquiry committee which is presently digging into the multi-crore PHE scandal in Jowai, has sought extension of time till November 15.

This was stated by Mr N Rynjah, who is heading the enquiry committee.

He told this reporter that some important papers were not made available to the Committee, and this was one of the major reasons for the delay in compiling the report. He said some of the papers were with political who were pursuing their own investigations.

Mr Rynjah hoped that subject to availability of all papers, there would be no need for further extension of time.

The Committee which was set up by the State Govt in May this year, was to have submitted its findings within three months. The deadline was subsequently extended upto September 17. The Committee is to conduct through probe into the circumstances leading to the racket, and also to fix responsibility on those who are primarily responsible.

Police has arrested over 200 persons from the streets of Shillong this week on charges of drunkenness. Special vigilance pickets were posted at strategic points of the town to swoop down on drunken persons after the fall of dusk.In one evening a record 67 persons were picked by police. They were sent for medical examination and later lodged for the night at the lockup in the police station.

Police sources claimed that the measures claimed a telling measure has had a telling effect on the law and order scene. The usual brawls and assault cases have touched a rock bottom.

Raids were also conducted at various unlicenced liquor shops of the town.