CM goes overboard to woo electorate

Makes new announcements without taking Cabinet into confidence 

FROM STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Shillong, July 8: If elections are round the corner, can new announcements to ostensibly woo the electorate be far behind? One is reminded of English romantic poet PB Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” with a twist as Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma comes up with a slew of new proclamations. His latest being the announcement of Mawshynrut as a civil sub-division, with its iuguration scheduled on Monday. Interestingly, MLA of Mawshynrut Witting Mawsor said he came to know of the proposed iuguration only on Thursday night. 

Though he expressed his happiness at the announcement of the new sub-division, Mawsor told The Sentinel that there was no consultation with the stakeholders before the “sudden announcement”.

“I met the Chief Minister after hearing about the iuguration as I was not officially informed of the matter and enquired about it. It was then that Sangma informed me that the itinerary had been communicated to the officials concerned,” the HSPDP legislator said.

The local MLA also said that based on the information gathered by him there has been no notification that will illustrate the domain of the newly-announced sub-division. 

“I am happy and so are the people at large that the government has lived up to the promise of creating the Mawshynrut civil sub division. But as the villages have not been consulted, they may feel being left out from the newly-announced administrative setup,” Mawsor explained. He said he was still uware of the area that will be included under the new administrative set-up. Mawshynrut is about 50 km away from Nongstoin, West Khasi Hills district headquarters.

The surprise decision of the Mukul Sangma government comes after the recent equally surprising announcement to created two different Community & Rural Development (C&RD) blocks within the periphery of Shillong without consulting the Cabinet. It has been learnt that C&RD Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar came to know about it at the last moment.

Sangma had himself stated that the decision on the creation of two block administrative units on Tuesday was taken after he held meetings with the officials of the Fince Department.

The big question that arises now is whether Sangma is bulldozing his way in the Cabinet and announcing new decisions without taking into confidence the members for his own convenience. The Chief Minister could not e reached over phone on Saturday.