Shillong, Aug 25: Newly appointed Governor of Meghalaya, Tathagata Roy took his oath of office and secrecy at the Raj Bhavan here on Saturday.

Roy, the former Governor of Tripura was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court, Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, in the presence of Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma, Ministers, Congress MP, Vincent H. Pala, police and civil officers of the state, besides BJP leaders and a few RSS functionaries.

MLAs from the opposition Congress were not seen at the function.

Roy had served as the Governor of Tripura since May 20, 2015, and he replaced Ganga Prasad who has been transferred as the Governor of Sikkim.

Prasad took over as the governor of Meghalaya on October 5 last year.

The 73-year old Governor was born on September 14, 1945 in Kolkata and had served as professor of Construction Engineering at Jadavpur University.

He was also the member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and got appointed as president of the BJP West Bengal state unit from 2002 till 2006. He was also the member of the BJP National Executive, the party’s central policy making body from 2002 till May, 2015.

Speaking to reporters, Roy recalled his association with Shillong and spent his childhood years here where his his younger brother, the MP in West Bengal, Prof. Saugata Roy was also born at the Ganesh Das Government Hospital, Lawmali here.

“Moving from Tripura to Meghalaya, I was a little bit sad because I have set my mind to stay there for three years. But I am happy because coming to Meghalaya and Shillong is like homecoming. I had spent my early childhood years here, and my next younger brother, Saugatha Roy had been born here at the Ganesh Das Government Hospital. This city I know like the back of my hand all the way from Garikhana to Happy Valley,” Roy narrated.

He said that his relatives who were in Shillong have all died, and their descendents strewn all over the world. “My last relative was my cousin very close counsin, Heralal Roy who was a professor at St Anthony’s College, here. He was quite a famous person in his own time and he died longtime back about 30 years back. I have a close attachment to this place and I am very happy,” Roy said.

The new Governor also recalled how Shillong was free from traffic jam during his childhood years unlike now.

“Now the look of the city has changed. When we were children, there was no traffic jam. There were all Assam-typed buildings, and none of these monstrosities that have grown up now. I would like to address these matters of architecture of Shillong at some point of time. But inspite of everything, Shillong is Shillong and I love it,” Roy said.

To question how he would address the traffic problem, the Governor said, “It is difficult to say so early. I have been associated professionally with traffic jam because I had worked with the Calcutta metro project for close to 18 years, and I know a few things about traffic. To my mind, the governor said, “Shillong’s topography is such that we cannot widen roads to a large extend and you also cannot build flyovers. What can be done under such circumstances as far as I can see is, to emphasize on public transport than private.”

he said that if good public transport is arranged, then the road occupancy will be less.

“In what way private transport will be discouraged is upto the elected government to decide. These are general ideas I have coined earlier also,” the Governor added.