Chief Minister Conrad Sangma attracted plenty of attention after he was filmed singing the popular rock song ‘Summer of 69’ while on a party visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
Today, however, Rambrai Jyrngam MDC Bajop Pyngrope, of the Congress, tore into the CM for seemingly having fun while Meghalaya suffers under the weight several serious challenges, like high fuel prices, traffic congestion in Shillong, lack of planning and poor policy delivery.
Stating that the height in fuel means there is an increase in the rate of all essential commodities including the taxi fares, Pyngrope said, “Conrad Sangma’s common saying is that there should be a balance between economies, livelihood and environment but he has failed to show balance when it comes to the high tax imposed on fuel.”
He also questioned the motive of the government to waive taxes on petrol pumps worth crores of rupees as well as electricity bills of factories in industrial areas while he has never shown mercy towards the general public.
“Just like Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the national level has sold everything from corporations to airports to the most powerful business tycoons, the same are the footsteps of the people in power in the state with no regards to the plight of the common man and issues affecting the state,” Pyngrope alleged.
Meanwhile, the MDC also slammed the government for talking about the action it plans to take while delivering little.
“People of the state are in the dark to date on the (Assembly) resolution passed on ILP (Inner Line Permit) and the Union Home Ministry has also not given any clear answer on ILP. What about the report on the high-level committee on the Them Metor issue? Why was it not made public? We don’t know if the HLC report even exists,” he stated.
With regards to the boundary issue with Assam, Pyngrope said that the inhabitants of his constituency have decided not to allow the CMs of the two states to visit Langpih.
“The people of my constituency have expressed their resentment towards the two CMs visiting Langpih because the boundary of our area is not at Langpih but 20 to 30km beyond Langpih,” he added.
If the state government wants to settle the boundary differences, it should do so as per the records of the Himas, Sirdarships and the Syiemships and not in a way that lands belonging to Meghalaya will be handed over to Assam, which may result in total anarchy, the MDC said.
