The Garo Students Union (GSU) met the incoming Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills, Swapnil Tembe today and presented him with a list of problems that need his urgent attention.
These centred on transportation issues faced by the public, especially students, and exorbitant prices of meat and fish in Tura markets.
The GSU wished Tembe the best for his tenure and looked forward to working with him.
For one of the major centres of Meghalaya, Tura is in desperate need of cheap and efficient public transport, the pressure group told the DC, especially for students, daily wage earners, office goers, small traders and the like.
“The much-hyped Tura Public Transportation System, which was initiated to tackle this very problem has vanished into thin air without a trace,” The GSU said. Though it lasted only a short while, “it was a boon for the student community particularly.”
The public transport system should be reimplemented and any failure and problems faced by the original system should be “revisited and discussed”, it added.
Secondly, the GSU raised the matter of “unpredictable, extremely volatile” prices for meat and fish in Tura markets.
“The prices are not as prescribed by the Tura Municipal Board,” it said; pork is being sold up to Rs 400 per kilogramme, beef Rs 600/kilo and mutton Rs 800/kilo.
“Although we do understand that there is inflation, such sharp increases in price and that too at daily intervals to the tune of Rs 30 to Rs 50 at once is beyond reasonable,” it added.
These prices are unsustainable for the Garo tribals and it is more than what the meat costs in Khasi-Jaiñtia Hills and Assam, the GSU said, adding that the “trend of overpricing” has continued since the Covid-19 lockdowns and the authorities “have not bothered” to rectify the problem.
