Meghalaya, Ampati MLA Miani D Shira spoke exclusively to The Sentinel

Miani D Shira, MLA, Ampati, Meghalaya spoke exclusively to sentinelassam.com on how she plans to bring about socio-economic change in the society, her mantra to absorb all those workers who have returned home and tur around the tourism, hospitality and agriculture sectors, the cornerstones of Meghalaya's economy. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

Sentinel Assam: You have always seen your father Mukul Sangma as the Chief Minister, as the legislator in the Assembly. How does it feel now that you yourself are there in the Assembly?

Miani D Shira: I feel a great sense of responsibility and accountability now. Earlier although somehow, I was involved in politics, I could pass the responsibility on to my father, my mother or someone else but now that it has come on me, I feel a great sense of responsibility and I also feel so much love from the people who have elected me. That love drives me to work more for them.

Sentinel Assam: We have heard a lot about the positives and negatives of ILP. What are your views? Let's hear your views on ILP. The student unions and other civil society organisations are once again building pressure on the Conrad Sangma government to implement the entry-exit points plan without any further delay.

Miani D Shira: ILP is an old Act passed during the time of the British. It has its positives and negatives. Also, it completely lies with the Centre whether it wants to give it to the state or not. That is why during our previous government we had come up with a new Act called the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, which is similar to ILP and lies completely in the hands of the state government as to how to implement it. It is actually to help the tourists or the outsiders coming into the state and the entry-exit points are more like the facilitation centres. We also get to know who is coming in, for what purpose. It is a new law which the state can implement without the Centre giving or not giving us ILP. And right now, as a state we will be going ahead with that Act. Because we are not getting the ILP right now. We passed the Resolution in the House but till now we have not heard from the Central government.

Sentinel Assam: Providing livelihood to thousands of workers who have returned back is something that everyone is concerned about. What do you think needs to be done to tackle the issue in your state?

Miani D Shira: There is no short cut to this issue. And I think we will be having very difficult times in the coming days. But Meghalaya is a very small state and we are lucky in a way that we do not have so many migrants. Maximum of those who have come back to the state are students. I think 60 per cent are students and 40 per cent are migrants. So, we do not have that many number of people who are working outside the state as compared to the other states. I think we have an opportunity to give them a platform in the state. We should look at it in a positive way and most of these workers, if we look at the break-up, they are mostly involved in the tourism sector, hospitality or factories and construction sector. We have a lot of companies involved in construction or tourism. We can promote these sectors and absorb these people.

Sentinel Assam: What would be your mantra to fix the battered and bruised tourism and hospitality sectors?

Miani D Shira: Meghalaya is heavily dependent on tourism, mining and agriculture sector. Eighty per cent of our people are engaged in agriculture. Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has been talking about tourism that is safe and can be for the domestic tourist. And I think the government should really look at promoting local tourism of course in a very systematic manner once our borders are sealed. I think we have a great potential and many of our local people have a great spending capacity particularly at this time when they cannot travel outside.

Sentinel Assam: We cannot forget the tragedy that took place at Ksan. What are your views on rat hole mining and illegal coal mining which is rampant in Meghalaya?

Miani D Shira: Rat hole mining was not a sustainable one at all. We have been trying to convert them to scientific mining. But people when they are settled into doing something in a certain way, to bring in anything new is very difficult. During our previous government we tried to bring in scientific mining but people were very skeptical and resistant at that point of time. Unfortunately, NGT had to step in and banned the whole rat mining thing which has badly affected the economy of the state. Now what the state needs to do is work on the details on how to introduce scientific mining, bring all stakeholders together so that they understand the importance of scientific mining in the long run. If they want to do sustainable mining then they have to work on a new mining plan.

Sentinel Assam: How successful do you think the Conrad Sangma government has been in providing alternate livelihoods as promised?

Miani D Shira: Not very successful right now. They have been doing things but not very successful right now.

Sentinel Assam: What are your plans and your vision for the upliftment of the people of your constituency and your state?

Miani D Shira: My constituency is in south-west corner of Meghalaya. It is the district headquarter. It borders Assam and Bangladesh. There is a lot of scope for trade and also maximum people are dependent on agriculture, the soil is very fertile. My plan is to bring about a socio-economic change in the people of my constituency and of course, replicate it in the entire state. WE are a tribal society and we a have a lot of practices, superstitions so to say, which should be done away with now in this modern age. There is a lot of awareness, change and education that needs to be brought about in our every day life. It is a continuous effort from the legislators and all the leaders of the society. For economic change I would like to introduce scientific methods in agriculture so that they can increase their produce and we are able to give them a sustain able livelihood.

Sentinel Assam: Development of health infrastructure. What are your plans?

Miani D Shira: Overall health sector is in a bad shape. Meghalaya has very less civil hospital. It has just been upgraded I think during the previous government and all these hospitals needs upgradation. In my district there is only one civil hospital and it does not have ICU. So critical illnesses cannot be treated there. There have to be sent to Shillong, Tura or somewhere in Assam. Cities like Shillong or Tura cannot take the burden of patients from other districts. If the district hospitals are equipped with basic ICU and other basic facilities then the people will not have to go to other cities and towns. It is very difficult to get specialists. I am glad that I had raised all these issues in the Assembly. The basic structure of healthcare needs to be changed.

Sentinel Assam: As a young politician from the Congress camp what do you think about the future of the grand old party. Where is it going?

Miani D Shira: Everywhere we have ups and downs and the same goes for the grand old party. We are just having a bad time. It is time for our re-building. There is a future, but we need to introspect and work harder. I feel Congress had lost touch with the ground reality. We need a bridge to connect the ground realities with the central leadership. However, we are working towards it and we are building the party and we are re-gaining. The party is very strong in Meghalaya. WE lost the last election but just a couple of seats. We have not lost much ground. Politics at times is like gambling, luck matters too. We are using the time to introspect and make us stronger. We can do better. 

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