SHILLONG, SEPT 8: The state government has assured to exclude officials of East Jaintia Hills district from the fact-finding committee constituted to probe alleged illegalities related to cement plants.

The assurance was given during a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Dr Shakil Ahammed on Tuesday to review the five-point charter of demands of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU).

Informing about the meeting, former KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah said the Union has expressed dismay over the manner in which the proceedings of its last meeting with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister were recorded.

“Today’s meeting was called by the government to follow up on the last meeting we had with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister. We discussed the progress on the five issues put forth by the KSU and expressed our dismay as to how the proceedings were recorded. We sought clarification and asked the government to incorporate the actual discussion into the minutes,” Thabah said.

He said it was agreed in the meeting with the Chief Minister that the Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and other officials of East Jaintia Hills should not be part of the fact-finding committee, but the minutes stated that both DC and SP will play a vital role.

“We highly objected to that. They have now agreed that DC, SP and other officials of East Jaintia Hills will not be part of the fact-finding committee directly or indirectly. They informed us that the committee has been constituted and details of members will be shared within a day or two,” he said.

On MRSSA implementation, Thabah said the government informed that facilitation centres, including those at Umling and Rattacherra, and the District Task Force will become operational by the last week of November or first week of December.

He said the KSU objected to online registration of tenants and insisted that verification of antecedents should be done by traditional heads.

“We are of the opinion that the people who should verify the antecedents of tenants should be the traditional heads such as Sirdar, Rangbah Shnong, Waheh Shnong, Nokma etc. They agreed to it. We also told them that the facilitation centres should become functional first before implementing the facial recognition app, which was also agreed upon,” he said.

On the Migrant Workers Act, he said the labour department will hold a workshop on Wednesday to train officials on implementation. He said the government has assured to incorporate provisions demanded by the KSU, including CCTNS tracking and penalties of Rs 10,000 for first offence, Rs 20,000 for second and Rs 50,000 and jail term thereafter.

On recruitment reforms, Thabah said SOPs have been put in place and personal interview for Grade D posts has been abolished. “For technical non-gazetted posts of Grade B and C, they are working on it and will inform us in a week or two,” he said.

On NEIGRIHMS, Thabah said the Union has opposed constitution of the Governing Council until its demands are met.

“We have come to know that the Governing Council is likely to be constituted. We said it should not be constituted until all demands of KSU are met. Even the Deputy Director of NEIGRIHMS has written to the KSU president asking us to take up with the government that the council should not be constituted until our demands are met,” he said.

Thabah said some progress has been seen on MRSSA and recruitment reforms and the government has assured to share all details within a week.