CM iugurates Kharkutta Police Station

From A Reporter

SHILLONG, March 26: Continuing with the government’s policy of bringing administration closer to the people and ensuring better policing services, Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma iugurated the up-graded Kharkutta Police Station in North Garo Hills before a gathering of over 3000 people on Saturday.
It may be mentioned that Kharkutta Police Outpost, established in 1984, has been bifurcated from Mendipathar PS and upgraded to a police station by a government notification on March 24, 2017. The new police station will now cover areas from Wageasi to Adokgre which are far-flung from the district headquarters and will alleviate the problems faced by the people of the area who otherwise had to travel over 40 kms to Mendipathar even for minor cases.
In his iugural address, the Chief Minister expressed his joy in being able to dedicate the police station to the people for better policing and upholding peace and maintaining law & order in the area. “The government for the past several years has been coming up various development projects in the State. However, it has been seen that without peace and law & order all developmental works take a backseat”, he said and congratulated the people and their local MLA Cherak Momin for their persistent efforts in maintaining peace in the region.
He exhorted the new Police Station to create opportunities to the local youths and said that it should also serve as a coaching centre to the job seekers in different security forces.
The Chief Minister was also of the view that the police force in the State are working under challenging circumstances and there is bound to be slips, which he said, would be dealt with according to the provisions of the law.
According to the Chief Minister, the government studied all the areas of disparity in development across the State and had taken steps to create new police stations, blocks and sub-divisions according to priority.
“There is still so much left to be done for the people of the state, but we cannot do it overnight”, he said adding that he is aware of the needs of the people of the area and assured the people that Kharkutta PHC would also be upgraded to CHC very soon.
Stating that Kharkutta is one of the largest constituenciesin the state and one of the most difficult areas, the Chief Minister informed that his government’s policy was to look at such areas where developmental gap is more particularly those areas along the Assam-Meghalaya border and came up with a scheme called Inter-State Border Area Development Programme (ISBADP) through which number of developmental works are being taken up in the area.
In the social sector, he informed that the government has come up with a new scheme for opening Community Colleges to be run by the community themselves and that the government would provide sufficient funds so that communities can run these institutions with a sense of ownership. He also announced an “Attendance linked Assistance” of Rs. 5000 each for students undergoing higher studies on condition that they fulfill a minimum of 80 percent attendance to prevent dropout.
He also said that a Corpus Fund has been created for the Education department to make advance payment to students whose scholarships are delayed. He informed that during this Budget Session, a highest ever allocation of Rs.1700 crore has been made for Community Development so as to eble the people in the areas to have proper income source through various schemes.
Understanding the connectivity problems of the people in the area, the Chief Minister referred to the PMGSY road at Dokongsi in North Garo Hills which had been abandoned half way and asked the PWD officials to submit a proposal for completion of the road saying that the government would grant Rs.80 lakh under convergence mode of investment to support this road project.
He also informed about the creation of a Forest Protection Force under department of Forest & Environment which would provide job opportunities for hundreds of youths.
The Chief Minister and other dignitaries also gave away laptops to 10 candidates who passed in the first division in the last SSLC and HSSLC exams, a scheme which had been started by the local MLA two years back as a motivation to the students of the area to excel in their studies.