Meghalaya Assembly Speaker, Metbah Lyngdoh, today said that he had not instructed the police to prevent members of a pressure group, the Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO), from entering the Assembly.
HITO members had acquired, legally, 20 passes to the public gallery but were stopped some distance from the Assembly building in Rilbong by magistrates and police from going anywhere near the Assembly. The pressure group claimed that it had learnt that Lyngdoh had ordered them to be stopped.
This the Speaker denied, saying he did not know the reason why members of the pressure group were stopped. “For what reason they have not been allowed, that I don’t know,” he stated.
However, Lyngdoh did say that his job is to ensure that order is maintained in the Assembly. Passes that are handed out can also be revoked if necessary, he added.