Sohra MLA Gavin M Mylliem, who recently received a death threat from the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), said that it is ludicrous for the outfit to blame him for the downfall of the loss-making state-owned Mawmluh Cherra Cements Ltd (MCCL).
The HNLC had issued the threat late last month while offering to hire sacked workers. It followed a government decision to wind down the company, which has struggled to turn a profit despite crores of rupees pumped in by the state government over the years.
“Everybody would be aware that any decision taken by the government is a collective decision and not a decision taken by an individual, for which he is to be held responsible,” Mylliem told reporters today. “It is ludicrous that the HNLC would consider that I, as an individual alone, should be held responsible for the decision taken by the government.”
While also rejecting the demand by the banned rebel group to resign, he said that his constituents know him to be someone who has served the people “with utmost sincerity and diligence”.
The MLA said that the company’s problems go back to a time well before he was first elected to the Assembly in 2018.
“If any questions are to be asked, and if any responsibility is to be fixed, then they should be directed against the persons who had been functioning in responsible capacities from 2007 onwards when the plant’s functioning started to deteriorate,” Mylliem said.
He said that he was most surprised when the press release from the HNLC issued threats against him personally. To his reckoning, this is the first time that the militant outfit has issued a threat against a sitting legislator, thereby giving the impression that the banned organisation is dabbling in electoral politics.
“It further gives rise to an impression that the threat is the result of some political game by vested interests. Such a threat, against an MLA who has only the larger public interest in mind, and who has gone out of his way to help all his constituents, and especially the poor and needy, would cast a negative light on the organisation,” he added.
According to Mylliem, MCCL was doing well from 1989-90 up to 2006-07 when it was earning “substantial profits” and was even debt-free for a time.
However, delays in upgrades, frequent breakdowns and continuous operating problems saw the company spiral downwards from 2007.
