SHILLONG, JAN 21: Governor R. S. Mooshahary on Monday said militant violence and rampant exploitation of Meghalaya’s rich mineral resources were proving detrimental to the health of both the state and its people.
Speaking at the 41st Meghalaya Statehood Day celebrations here, the governor said the continuing militant violence, particularly in the Garo Hills, was causing hindrance to the process of development of the state, and, in a way, negating the gains of attaining statehood over 40 years back. “Violence exists even though we thought that there will be peace in the state after the attainment of statehood,” he regretted.
Mooshahary emphasized on the need to improve the living standards of the people, their sense of security and wellbeing. “It’s not only the responsibility of the government, but it is also for people to work together to achieve these objectives,” he exhorted.
Terming the mining activities in the state as “mindless”, the governor said they were causing environmental degradation. Unscientific mining of the state’s rich mineral resources, he said, has already turned the soil acidic, affecting not just the agricultural produce, but also the health of the people who are forced to consume the food. “It is time for us to oppose this type of unscientific mining to save the future generation as mining without scientific knowledge is disastrous,” he added.
Mooshahary, who is the former director general of the Border Security Force (BSF), sounded more upbeat with the pace of border fencing work along the state’s border with Bangladesh. He said out of the total stretch of 465.387 km international borde, fencing has been completed along 239.272 km stretch while work on the remaining 226.115 km is expected to be completed within a year.
He also hoped that the boundary dispute with neighbouring Assam will be resolved by the governments of the two states.
The Governor urged the people to make use of the Right to Information (RTI) Act to expose corruption practices in the government. “If you tolerate corruption, you are indirectly helping corruption to grow and (that) will affect development in the state,” he said, adding that the Meghalaya High Court would be made functional by next month and the process of separation of the executive from judiciary will be completed within this year.
He later presented the awards to the recipients of the Meghalaya Day Awards. (By Our Reporter)
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