Golden jubilee celebrations of Garo Hills District Council begins

TURA, April 18 ? The fifty years golden jubilee celebrations of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council got off to a start at Tura on Sunday with a twenty-one gun salute by the Garo Nokmas (village headmen). Initially there were supposed to be fifty Nokmas opening the celebrations but many failed to turn up. The Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, earlier known as the GHDC came into existence on April 14, 1952. Late Captain Williamson Sangma, who later became the first Chief Minister of Meghalaya State, was also the first Chief Executive Member of the GHDC. Meghalaya Home Minister Lotsing Sangma called upon the people of Garo Hills to come forward and strengthen the district council. He expressed concern that over the years the people of Garo Hills were losing interest in the functioning of the Garo Hills District Council. He further said the reason for ? his was because the people had failed to follow the guidelines set up by the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution for the autonomous council. ?We have been slow in progressing because we have not followed the Council guidelines which were followed by Late Captain Williamson Sangma. I call upon the people of Garo Hills to inform me of the ways and ideas in which we can strengthen the GHADC,? said Lotsing Sangma. He also suggested that a resolution could be passed making it mandatory for schools at the primary and the middle levels to include in their syllabi the rules, powers and functioning of the district council. This would make the people more conscious of the district council. Elaborating further, he said that now-a-days people tend to go to the police for petty cases which in the long run overburden the force in discharging their duties. This could be solved if the people went to the Council Laskers and Nokmas who have the authority and judicial powers in their respective areas. He called for the reviving of the council amendments. He appealed for preservation of the forests and wildlife of Garo Hills, and called upon the intellectuals to actively participate and contribute with their ideas for the better development of Garo Hills. The Home Minister also sought the assistance of the Nokmas, Laskers, intellectuals, and the people of Garo Hills in bringing the Garo militants back to the mainstream. District Council Minister and Guest of Honour Hopingstone Lyngdodh in his speech spoke of the origins of the Khasi and Garo tribes and the establishment of the autonomous district councils. While admitting that there were lapses in the part of the council authorities he urged the people not to criticise the Council but its leaders. The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Tura, P Sampat Kumar, IAS, said that the successful functioning of the various autonomous bodies under the Sixth Schedule is a testament of the Constitution of India?s aim to give democratic functioning to every corner of the country. Secretary of MBOSE, Lindrid D Shira, appealed to the Council authorities to safeguard and preserve the tribal interests, traditions and culture, for which the Council had come into being. He spoke of the close ties the tribals had with the Nehru-Gandhi family and recalled the decision of Late Pandit Nehru to set up the district council and Late Indira Gandhi?s decision to make a separate, state called Meghalaya for the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribes.? We should all give a helping hand to strengthen the GHADC,? said Prof Shira. Others who spoke on the occasion included Dr Milton Sangma, former Pro-Vice Chancellor of NEHU, Tura Campus, former CEM Albinstone A Sangma, former Chairman Robbins Ch Marak, former Secretary of GHADC N S Chisim, veteran leader of the Hills State Movement Grohonsing Marak, Herojini B Sangma, Ebelson Sangma MDC, CEM of GHADC EK Sangma, and chairman TD Shira.