Day: May 8, 2023

SHILLONG, MAY 8: Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Thomas A Sangma on Monday granted recognition to the recent merger of the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) with the National People’s Party (NPP).

Sangma also handed over the official letter granting the recognition to the two former PDF MLAs – Gavin Miguel Mylliem (Sohra) and Banteidor Lyngdoh (Mawkynrew).

Speaking to media persons, Gavin said that they had collected the recognition letter of merger which the party had submitted to the Speaker on May 5.

Meanwhile, Gavin said the meeting to discuss the Roster system is likely to take place on May 15.

“We will be having a roster meeting if I am not mistaken on 15^th of May. The Chief Minister will be calling the meeting, he will be chairing the meeting,” Mylliem said.

He said that the meeting will be the right platform for them to express their concerns relating to the roster.

The Sohra legislator however is optimistic that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will pay heed to the 11 point Merger conditions laid by erstwhile PDF.

“In life we need to be optimistic, we shouldn’t be too pessimistic, so of course on Saturday we have given the merger document and its according to the documents that has been decided at the general council we had on 5^th and some of the agendas in line with the NPP and CM assured in this regard,” the former PDF president said. 

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SHILLONG, MAY 8: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday met leaders of the Hmar community and Kuki community.

Speaking to reporters, Sangma said, “They met and asked for whatever support we can give from the state government side especially to ensure there is peace in Shillong. Two, whenever the family members of anybody who are coming to Shillong during these difficult times, if the government can give support. We have asked the deputy commissioner to look into that matter.”

The chief minister informed that the delegation had also urged to take up some of the issues and concerns with the central government as a political party.

“I will be going to Delhi soon. So whenever I get the opportunity I will definitely take up the matter as overall peace in the state of Manipur is important for the overall peace in the North East region,” he assured.

Sangma has termed the recent incidents in Manipur as unfortunate. “I once again through all of you would like to appeal to the people of Manipur and their communities that are involved that whatever it is we must try to ensure that peace is there and violent should not continue and whatever problems that are there we should sit down and through dialogue we should try to resolve this problem,” he said.

When asked, chief minister informed that almost all students, who are studying in Manipur have been brought back safely to the state.

“Probably the last group of students has landed in Shillong directly. There was one more flight we organized today directly from Imphal to Shillong,” Sangma said.

According to him, in the last three days, almost 300 plus students have been brought back from Manipur.

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SHILLONG, MAY 8: Four legislators of the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) have decided to submit a letter to the state government on May 12, demanding the immediate putting on hold the job recruitment process pending the review of the state reservation policy.

Informing this on Monday, the party has also appealed to all concerned citizens to come out in large numbers as a mark of support to the said demand.

VPP spokesperson Dr Batskhem Myrboh said the party in the past had submitted a letter to the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma requesting him to convene a special session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly to discuss the pros and cons of the job reservation policy as well as implementation of the roster system “but sadly event today we have not received any communication from the government in this regard”.

“Therefore, the party is left with no option but to decide to go and submit a letter to the government asking it to stop the recruitment process as long as the job reservation policy is not yet reviewed or implementation of the roster system is not yet in place,” he said while adding that “the party believes that the continuing recruitment to different bodies in the state is in total disregard to the interest of the youth.”

“And therefore, we appeal to the public to come and support the party MLAs led by Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit when they are going to submit the letter by being present around the secretariat to show that they are supporting the step taken by the party,” Dr Myrboh said.

Appealing to the public to maintain peace and order, the VPP spokesperson said, “However, when they (public) come to show their support to the party and to our MLAs, we appeal to the public to maintain peace, calm and respect law and order and not to create any disturbances.”

According to him, the party will not be responsible for any untoward incidents.

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SHILLONG, MAY 8: Three pressure groups under the banner of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Monday extended full support for the implementation of the Myntdu-Leshka Hydro Electric Project Stage-II.

Leaders of the Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU), Jaintia Youth Federation (JYF) and East Jaintia National Council (EJNC) in a joint letter to the chairman of the public hearing on MLHEP-stage II said, “The Joint Action Committee of pressure groups fully support this upcoming hydroelectric project which will benefits the state of Meghalaya as a whole.”

The JAC however put forth few suggestions to the government and the implementing agencies with regards to the construction work and project development of the MLHEP-stage II.

“(We) urge the implementing agency and the Government to replace the afforestation land from West Khasi Hills District to Jaintia Hills district itself and one can easily find a feasible land for afforestation within the two districts in Jaintia Hills as we have hectares of land to offer for reparation and afforestation land within the two districts of Jaintia Hills,” the letter said.

It also stated, “The JAC would like to request the state government and the implementing agency at first to enrolled as many as local skilled or unskilled staffs/workers for any feasible work and purpose of the project and to prioritize and enrolled first the unemployed locals who are skilled and could be unskilled youths to work in the project.

For technical staff/workers we kindly request the implementing agency to prioritize first the potential locals and if there are less local technicians, the implementing agency could bring from outside with proper documents and seek permission by applying proper labor license and certificate from the competent authority.”

The JAC said that the project should benefit mainly the local area and to the people from the two districts of West and East Jaintia Hills districts.

“We also urge the Government and the implementing agency to kindly include Borghat Village under the Local Area Development since it could be another village that will be directly and indirectly affected by the dam project in future,” it added.

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SHILLONG, MAY 8: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Monday sought the intervention of the NEHU Registrar into alleged lapses in screening procedure by the screening committee for appointment to the post of an associate professor in the department of Journalism and Mass Communication.

In a letter to the Registrar Prof AS Dixit, HYC general secretary Roykupar Synrem said it has come to the knowledge of the Council that a female candidate, Dr Natalie Jo-Anne Diengdoh belonging to the Scheduled Tribe community applied for the post of associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication on 15.04.2022 and thereafter submitted attested hardcopies of all her certificates at Establishment II on 16.04.2022.

She again submitted the updated attested hardcopies of her certificates at Establishment II on January 3, 2023.

“(However), on April 14, 2023 her application was rejected by the screening committee. She was given zero (0) marks without any remarks for all criteria…,”Synrem said.

“You are therefore requested to intervene and reconsider her application by referring to the attested hard copies of her credentials submitted at Establishment II. It would be appreciated if the university takes up this case seriously and ensures that justice is done to the deserving member of one of the indigenous communities of the state of Meghalaya,” he stated in the letter.

Dr Natalie was rejected despite possessing the following – “Doctor of Philosophy in Folkloristics, Thesis entitled Representations of Ka Niam Khasi in Mass Media from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 2015, Masters of Arts in Journalism & Mass Communication, Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical & Technical Science, Shillong, 2008, B Div 64%, National Eligibility Test (Journalism & Mass Communication), University Grants Commission, 2012, Teaching since 2013.

She is currently an assistant professor at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Shillong

Dr Natalie had authored and published 4 books in the Khasi language and 2 in the English language.

“So far, she had sent three representations – on April 19, 2023 two representations have been successfully submitted at the portal to plead her case and the third representation was sent on the 1st of May 2023 to you at regtroffice@nehu.ac.in and cc to ST Cell at ampassah95@rediffmail.com. To date there has been no response to her numerous pleas; hence I request that her case be considered as she bears the necessary requirements,” Synrem said.

“She has contributed tremendously to the state through her efforts in cultural conservation in various platforms like books, documentary films, radio productions, paper publications and so on. Since highly qualified applicants with vast experience are available from the Khasi Jaintia Community, we see no reason why they should be deprived of this opportunity to serve the university,” the HYC leader said while adding that so far the department is run by Assistant Professors belonging to other communities only.

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