TURA, April 16 – The Meghalaya Chief Minister, DD Lapang, has taken the initiative to end militancy in the Garo Hills by bringing with a him his government’s economic package to give relief to the militancy affected people of Garo Hills. Lapang made his maiden visit as Chief Minister to visit Tura and Williamnagar on April 14 and 15 where he unveiled a massive economic package for the three districts of Garo Hills. He also reminded the people that peace would be a pre-requisite for the successful implementation of the economic package. The highlight of his package is the laying of foundation for construction of the first-ever Tura Polytechnic Institute near Tura Public School. The massive project is estimated at Rs 19 crore and its completion is slated for the year 2006. The project has been financed by the World Bank and the State Government will bear ten per cent of the expenditure.
The Tura pllytechnic is to initially have three courses having a duration of three years. Every year, 30 students will be admitted for each course. The three courses are Computer Application, Food Processing, and Medical Electronics. Until the completion of the infrastructure for the Polytechnic, classes will be held at Tura Government Boys High School beginning this July. Jowai Polytechnic in Jaintia Hills will have Architecture and two other courses while Shillong Polytechnic will be upgraded into a full-fledged Engineering College. Laying further stress on education, Lapang also announced that he has directed the Finance Department to sanction Rs 80 lakh for payment to the land owners (Nokmas) who parted with their precious asset to make way for the beginning of the Tura campus of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
On the health front, Lapang informed the people that the Tura Civil Hospital would be further upgraded and the office of the Assistant Director of Health Services will soon begin functioning from June, this year. The upgradation includes Shillong and Jowai civil hospitals and Ganesh Das Hospital. Acknowledging the fact that Garo Hills continues to have frequent power failures due to faulty lines passing through thick jungles in West Khasi Hills and East Garo Hills, the Lapang Government has decided to begin construction of the Galwal and Nangal Micro-Hydro Electric projects in South Garo Hills. The Chief Minister has not left the physically challenged people of his state out of the economic package. During his visit to Mariam Centre for the blind, deaf and dumb at Tura Araimile, run by the Bethany Society which is well known throughout the State for their dedicated services to uplift the lives of the physically challenged, Lapang assured them that his Government would give three per cent reservation of jobs and funds from different departments for the disabled. He added that his Government would implementment the Disabled Act after a thorough study of the Act. He appreciated the role of Bethany Society in providing vocational education for self-sustainance of the disabled.
Stating that hardly 1000 disabled children have been covered in the State, he added that there are more than 10,000 yet to be rehabilitated, the Meghalaya Chief Minister informed that a special cell is being set up in the State Social Welfare Department with a full-fledged Commissioner to look into the problems of the physically challenged people of the State. The long-standing demand of the Garo people to strengthen the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) cell at Tura has also been accepted by the Chief Minister. Lapang said that more personnel would be recruited to the cell to further strengthen it and some of the MPSC examinations, which were earlier being held at Shillong, will henceforth be conducted at Tura. He apealed to the youth of Garo Hills to fully utilise this opportunity.
The Chief Minister also handed over a large portion of Government land to the people of Williamnagar town in East Garo Hills on Tuesday afternoon. He also promised to further strengthen the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) with more financial assistance. But he made it a priority to streamline the Council’s functioning so that it is able to serve the Garo Hills people in a more effective manner. During his two-day visit to the region, he was accompanied by the PWD(R) Minister Dr Mukul Sangma, Health Minister BG Momin, Higher and Technical Education Minister M Suchiang, Minister of Statre for Power Heltone Marak, Minister of State for C & RI Sengman Marak, Minister of State in-charge of Communication, Billykid Sangma, Principal Secretary for Education GP Wahlang, Commissioner of Garo Hills Divisions Peter Ingty and a host of other senior bureaucrats.