The state Cabinet, which met here this week to take stock of the affairs relating to the scandal in the PHE Department’s Jowai Division, has decided to entrust the matter to the police and Anti-corruption Branch of the State.

The Cabinet also decided to suspend the concerned Executive Engineer.

In its first reaction to the press reports in this connection, the Govt in a press release has admitted that it was “already aware” of the “irregularities” in the purchase of materials by the Jowai Division. “A preliminary enquiry has already been conducted”, the press note said.

Following is the test of the press note:

“The attention of the Government has been drawn to news items appearing in a section of the press concerning irregularities in the purchase of materials by the Jowai Division of Public Health Engineering Department are already aware of this matter and a preliminary enquiry has already been conducted.

“Besides constituting a Committee for conducting a detailed enquiry into the transactions, it has been decided to entrust the matter to the Police & Anti-Corruption Branch of the State. Disciplinary action has already been initiated and orders have been issued placing the concerned official under suspension.”

According to reports, the office of the Executive Engineer for Jowai Division has fallen vacant following the refusal of any officer to accept the posting. It is learnt that the last Executive Engineer, Mr K War had to flee away to Shillong allegedly being unable to stand the pressure from the contractors for relasing the pending bills. It is estimated that payment involving over Rs five crore has been with held by the Govt after the matter was first reported.

The Sub Committee of the Assembly Estimates Committee has decided to make a physical verification of the Jowai Division of the PHE Department.

The first look

Mr Bhishma Narian Singh, were sworn in on April 16, became the fourth regular Governor of Meghalaya. At fifty, he is said to be the youngest ever Governor in the country. Meghalaya is a young State and it is quite appropriate that her Governor too should be young. Otherwise a routine affair, the swearing in ceremony had one distinctive feature; for the first time the proceedings were conducted by a lady – the Chief Secretary, Mrs P P Trivedi. Immediately after the oath-taking ceremony, she led the new Governor in a ceremonial procession from the Durbar Hall to the lush green carpet outside, where the Meghalaya Police Battalion gave him a ceremonial salute. Later Mr Singh circulated himself among the guests and dignitaries who were entertained to tea.

Dressed in impeccable white dhoti, off – white galabandh and Gandhi cap, the slim and tall Governor found sometime to meet the press. There were a volley of questions from the mediamen, most of which he replied off the record. He left an impression of a sincere and capable person. Notable among his earlier achievements have been his induction into the central cabinet in 1980 to become the youngest Union cabinet Minister ever. He deftly handled the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio. The Asaid stadia fly-overs and chain of hotels in Delhi bear silent testimony to this ability as the Works & Housing Minister. If first impression is to be taken seriously, then Meghalaya, Assam and for that matter, the whole of North-East, should look forward to a good time under the new Governor who enjoys the reputation of being able to make a point without making an enemy; he is basically a friendly and an outgoing person, and has immense reserve of energy to work. Well then, let us keep our fingers crossed.

Changing summer

Every summer when the sun blazes, everybody seems to complain “on, Shillong is like any other town in the plains.” Indeed, there is an element of truth in it. It is not uncommon to see specks of sweat on faces when sun is up. Some years back, deep fridge or refrigerators were considered to be a luxury. Not so any longer. Shillong’s whether necessitates a cold storage facility. Ice cream was not a particularly sought after item. But not these days. People seem to enjoy ice creams like never before. No wonder there are more ice cream vendors today than ever before. Mosquitoes and house flies were never so menacing as at present. Many housewives are compelled to use mosquito nets at night to ensure a goodnights sleep. Summer in Shillong is not all that pleasant these days.

Distinctive trio

There are several instances when Meghalaya were called upon to represent the country in any international meet. But perhaps it is the only time that Meghalayans alone have had the unique distinction of representing a national team at a global congregation. This honour to our State has been brought by three young ladies of Shillong who are presently camping in London for the international gathering of Girls Guide and Girls Scout being held from April 15 to 23. We congratulate Evamary Swer, Jessica Warjri and Josephine Marbaniang for this distinction.

The Speaker of the Meghalaya Assembly, Mr E K Mawlong, formally released on April 11 the publication entitled “Shillong 1971 – 81” based on the papers submitted at a seminar organized by the North-East India Council for Social Science Research, Shillong.

A reshuffling in the cabinet as well as in the secretariat is in the offing, according to informed sources here.

The Chief Minister, Captain W. A. Sangma, is reported to have been toying with the idea for quite sometime in view of some lackadaisical performances by some of the Ministers.

Sources close to the Chief Minister said that the reshuffle would take place “any day” after Captain Sangma returns from electioneering in Mizoram.

At the top level of the secretariat, some changes are also on the card in view of the impending posting of Mr V. Ramakrishnan, the Development Commissioner, to Delhi.

Speculations are also rife that even the State Chief Secretary, Mrs P P Trivedi is on her way out. Mrs Trivedi is said to have fallen from the eyes of some of the senior Ministers.

The enforcement branch of Shillong Police has begun a drive against combating the menace of overloading in city buses and mini buses. The operation is carried out at key points twice daily during rush hours.

A team of policemen make physical verification of the buses to ensure that the specified number of passengers are on board. In some cases excess passengers are asked to get down. In a few cases, the licences of the drivers were sized for violation of the rules.

According to the rules, city buses are allowed only ten standing passengers. The mini buses are, however, not allowed any standing passengers.

Police said that there had been public complaints of various inconveniences faced owing to overloading in city buses. Some cases of pick pocketing were also reported from the city bus commuters.

Although there has been a general welcome of the police vigilance against overloading, the commuters who are eager to reach their destinations quickly, find the exercised too frustrating. Some of them have expressed their ire for the lack of additional bus services during the rush hours. It has been generally felt that the Govt. should direct the bus syndicate to increase the frequency of bus services at least during the rush hours.

The premiere show of the first Khasi feature film in 35 mm was held here on April 18 before a packed auditorium. The movie – ‘‘Manik Raitong’’ – portrays the legendary Khasi flute charmer and his immortl story of love.

Directed by Mr A. Bhattacharjee, the movie has already made a big impact among the Khasis. A huge crowd of people are thronging everyday at the Anjalee theatre for a ticket. It is said that the tickets are sold at a premium as high as Rs. 50. The film is produced by Mr Rishan Rapsang.

The 5th Battalion of the Assam Rifles celebrated its 64th Anniversary on April 18 somewere in the North Eastern Region.

The highlights of the celebretions were Puja in the Unit Mandir, Special Sainik Sammelan, battalion welfare fete and cultural programme.

The unit received the messages of greetings and good wishes from the various Army formation commanders.

The battalion was raised on April 18 1920 as the Darang Battalion. In 1922 the unit was employed to restore law and order in the plain areas of Aasam and in 1924 columns were sent to contain Nople rebels to Madras and in 1930 to Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) to astist civil authorities in maintiaining law and order. In 1959 Da1ai Lama with the members of the family and followers, entered into the Indian soil through one of the posts of the unit. They had unique honour of escorting His Holiness upto the plains of Assam.

During Sino-Indian Conflict of 1962, the battalion had the honour of occupying all the forward posts and were attacked the Chinese with overwhelming superior strength. The peraonnel of the battalion fought with great valour, courage and devotion to the duty though they completely out-numbered on various out posts they held on and only withdrew on orders of the Army Commanders.

Freedom fighters to meet in Cuttack

A Convention of the freedom fighters will be held at Cuttack sometime in May this year under the ba nner of All-India Freedom F ighters’ Samity, New Delh.

Meghalaya will be represented at the convention by Mr Bimal Sen Gupta and Mr Salil Dutta, President and General Secretary respectively of Meghalaya State Fighters Association.

District Council Polls

The APHLC-HSPDP combine has secured a two-thirds majority in the Khasi Hills District Council with its solid 21 members in a House of All the rest constitute a bare 9 for the opposition, hardly enough to inspire any defection from the ruling coalition. This basic feature of the poll verdict is an assurance for stability of the dew Executive Committee for the full term of the new Council emerging from the general election just over.

As between these two regional parties themselves, the HSPDP has emerged as the superior party, having bagged 14 of the 21, leaving only 7 for its senior partner, the APHLC. The HSPDP-APHLC ratio of membership in the ruling coalition thus is 2:1. But, if the six urban seats representing the Greater Shillong constituencies, which have been equally shared by the two partners, are left out of count, the ratio of rural support for the two would come to 3:1, which is an indication of the grass-root support HSPDP has registered. The leadership of the coalition has therefore been ensured for it, a tentative conclusion further reinforced by its top leader, Mr Hopingstone Lyngdoh having been elected with the biggest margin of votes among all the successful contestants. This in so far as it obviously rules out any rivalry for leadership, is another factor for stability which bids fair to be the hall-mark of the new Khasi Hills District Council for the ensuring term. Rarely in recent times has such an election been so much positive and unequivocal in its verdict.

A stable Executive Committee for a full term, which has thus been assured, may expectedly also have its sobering influence on the Council government relationship which had come under severe strain in the regime of the out going Council. The State government and the Khasi Hills Council had almost come to a parting of the ways with the Council election so imminent, and both the Congress (I), the ruling party at the State government level and the coalition of regional parties at the autonomous district administration level hoping for a battle royal at the dustings. Now that the die has been cast, it is more probable (benedictdaily.com to win online prizes free) that new thinking might reshape mutual relationship during the new regime, with the conflict over the administration of primary education in particular unlikely to recur when the government control is released after the scheduled period(s) of the temporary take-over.

Whether the election, which entertained queer and unprecedented candidature of as many as six Ministers, of whom three were also defeated, would raise on these scores issue of constitutional propriety of sorts remains to be seen. Such subtle issues, however, are not likely to come up at all and at least unlikely to influence in any material way the Khaki Hills politics, not to speak of State position in the Assembly is not effective enough to compel the defeated Ministers lose their ministerial office; the two Ministers elected to the Council, but destined to sit in a more ineffective opposition, cannot similarly influence the course of the Council’s functioning. Stability is the dominant note of the poll verdict; politicians both at the State level and the autonomous district level in Khaki Hills are bound to take note of this over riding fact of the situation.

JOWAI: Fatal road accideats are becoming a commonplace affair in the Jaintia Hills district.Thanks to recklessness of the public transport operators. At least on two occasions it has been conclusively proved that “unauthorised” persons were driving the vehicles which met with serious accidents resulting in loss of precious human lives. A bazar bus rolled down the hill side slope recently ending in the death of six persons. The bus was bieng driven by an unauthorised person.

The Deputy Commissioner of Jaintia Hills, Mr P.J.Bazeley has suspended the permits of both the vehicles (MLJ 335 and MLJ 99) for cancellation.

In a press release Mr Bazeley said that the administration “views with grave concern the increasing number of motor vehicle accidents involving loss of human lives. It warns that road permits of public transport vehicle detected being driven by unauthorised persons or by intoxicated driver was liable to be cancelled right away.

The press also appealed to the public to desist from the dangerous practice of travelling on rooftops of buses. Anybody found doing so would be prosecuted by the law, the press note added.

A special study group has been constituted to go into the problems in the “sick” industries of the North-East.

Stating this the Union Deputy Commerce Minister, Mr Purno A Sangma, told newsmen here on May 12 that the Special Group would also suggest remedial measures for nursing the industries.

Mr Sangma, who is also in-charge of the industries for the region, said that the Study Group would have to report thrice in year to the Standing Committee of the Small Scale Industries Board of the region.

The Study Group would be headed by the Secretary NEC. The other members are: all Directors of Industries, RBI, SBI, IDBI, NEITCO, SISI, and representatives of two SSI Associations.

Mr Sangma, who came to attend the second meeting of the SSI Board’s Standing Committee, said that it had recommended that the transport subsidy for the region should be raised from 75% to 100% and the nodal points should be Calcutta and Patna instead of Siliguri as at present.

The Centre has allotted a lot of land in Delhi for setting up a showroom for the handicrafts and handloom of the North East. The Centre has sanctioned Rs 20 lakhs for the construction of the showroom which would be run by the North Eastern Handloom and Handicrafts Corporation, he added.