ADVERTISEMENT
Shillong, Sep 8: After weeks of black flags, arrests and street heat, Shillong finally saw a handshake. The Meghalaya Government and the Khasi Students’ Union struck a truce at the Secretariat after Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma sat across the table with KSU leaders.
The message from the CM’s chamber was clear – work on the controversial Shree Cement project in East Jaintia Hills stops now. All activity at the site will remain frozen till an independent probe led by an outsider officer examines what went wrong in the July 31 public hearing, from environment to people’s voice.
It was not the only win for KSU. The government assured to tighten the influx gate with a new mobile app for scanning faces and documents, build a central database of outsiders under MRSSA and make the Umling Facilitation Centre operational before Christmas. More such gates at Ratacherra and Atiabari are in the pipeline. The migrant workers law will get teeth with digital police verification through CCTNS rolling out in a month.
On jobs, the government played the reform card. No more interviews for Grade D, and from January 1, 2027, no interviews for Grade C non-technical posts either. Nineteen of twenty-three MPSC reforms are done and the government is now looking at how to legally secure state jobs for state youth. KSU’s complaints on NEIGRIHMS have gone straight to the Union Health Minister’s desk with a promise to arrange a face-to-face meeting in Delhi.
Calling the talks constructive, KSU leader Donald Thabah announced a temporary suspension of the agitation but warned it is not a full stop, it is a pause on trust. The government blinked, KSU pulled back, but the watch continues.
