Shillong, Aug 26: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has decided to temporarily suspend its agitation after holding discussions with the Meghalaya government on five key demands, with the union describing the meeting as satisfactory.
Former KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah said the union was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting to an extent and had therefore decided to temporarily suspend its agitation.
The decision came after a meeting between KSU representatives and the Meghalaya government chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, during which the union raised five of the 20 issues contained in its charter of demands.
A key outcome of the meeting was the state government’s decision to constitute a fact-finding committee to examine concerns raised by the KSU over the public hearing held for the proposed Shree Cement project.
Sangma said the committee would be headed by a senior government official independent of the district administration and would examine whether due procedures were followed during the public hearing.
The committee will look into concerns over the alleged prevention of certain people from attending the hearing, consultation with stakeholders and environmental issues.
Until the committee completes its inquiry and submits its findings, all work related to the Shree Cement project will remain on hold, Sangma said.
The pressure group maintained that there was a failure in the mechanism of the district administration during the said public hearing. “So we have demanded that the DC (Deputy Commissioner) and the SP (Superintendent of Police) should not be a part of the fact finding committee, but instead they should be under the ambit of investigation by the fact finding committee on which the chief minister agreed,” informed Thabah.
The implementation of the Meghalaya Residents’ Safety and Security Act (MRSSA) 2016 was another major issue discussed during the meeting.
Sangma said the government was working to expedite the registration of people from outside the state who rent accommodation in localities. He said the process had been slow partly because localities were seeking financial and infrastructure support, including computers and data-entry operators.
With more than 6,500 localities and villages in the state, the government would not be able to provide such support to every locality, he said.
The government is now developing a mobile application that will allow registration through basic mobile phones. The application will facilitate face and document scanning, data entry and uploading of information to a centralised database.
On the MRSSA facilitation centre at Umling, Sangma clarified that the facility was not being converted into a food court, as was understood by some KSU members. He said the first part of the building would house the facilitation centre, while a food court would also be part of the site.
A joint inspection by the district administration and KSU representatives will be conducted, Sangma said. The government expects the facilitation centre at Umling to be operational before Christmas. Land for similar centres at Ratacherra and Athiabari is yet to be identified, he said.
The meeting also discussed the implementation of amendments to the Meghalaya Identification, Registration (Safety and Security) of Migrant Workers Act 2020.
Sangma said the government had amended the rules to address gaps that had affected implementation. The earlier rules did not clearly specify which officers had the authority to conduct inspections.
The amended provisions have also clarified the process for police verification. Verification can either be obtained from the Superintendent of Police of the district from which the migrant worker originates or through the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS).
On recruitment at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Sangma said he had already raised the KSU’s concerns with the Union Health Minister as the hospital is under the central government.
He said the state government would facilitate a meeting between KSU representatives and the Union Health Minister so that the union could directly raise its concerns. The state government would also provide logistical support to NEIGRIHMS, including testing centres and computer laboratories, if required for recruitment examinations.
Job recruitment reforms were also discussed. Sangma said interviews for Grade C non-technical posts would be abolished for recruitment notifications issued from January 1, 2027. The system has already been implemented for Grade D recruitment. He said standard operating procedures for District Selection Committees had also been cleared and would be adopted by various recruitment boards.
On reforms in the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC), Sangma said 19 of the 23 reforms recommended by a committee had already been implemented, while four were under consideration.
The KSU also raised concerns over MPSC recruitment advertisements being open to applicants from across the country.
Sangma said the government was examining the legal aspects of restricting certain recruitments to state residents. Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong is expected to discuss the matter in greater detail next week.
“We know that this is something we want to do. We are just figuring out how it should be done so that it can stand the scrutiny of the judiciary,” Sangma said.
Four senior members of the KSU are under arrest following the violence that accompanied the group’s public rally exactly a week ago, which left more than 30 vehicles damaged and 16 innocent civilians injured. The KSU has denied that its members were behind the violence.
