TURA, June 26 � The Garo Students� Union has urged the Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma to speed up developmental activities in the three districts of Garo Hills which continue to lag behind in comparison with the rest of the State.
In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, the central executive committee of the student body said focus is urgently required towards roads and communication network in the Garo Hills. The absence of co-ordination between different government departments while implementing construction works was also raised by the GSU.
The lack of co-ordination is most apparent between the PWD and the PHE, pointed out the students union. In total absence of information and co-ordination, the PWD is going ahead with road expansion works and black topping the surface while beneath lie water pipes that repeatedly break and seep through due to pressure from passing vehicles. To make matters worse, the PHE department digs up the newly laid road to repair the leaking pipes.
The dilapidated condition of the main bridge at Nangal area of South Garo Hills which connects to the coal fields of Garo Hills was also brought to the notice of the Chief Minister. The bridge was constructed by GREF and completed two years ago but it has already begun to show signs of likely collapse, informed the GSU.
The Union has also called for the filling up of all regular posts in NEHU, Tura campus, and to look into the problems faced by the regular non-teaching staff and those employed on contract basis.
On the influx issue in which several thousand illegal immigrants from Assam and Bangladesh are entering Garo Hills, the GSU wants strict monitoring of refugee camps that are set up during the monsoon floods and want to make it mandatory for contractors to register the labourers doing work inside the State.
The need to hasten the work of several power projects in Garo Hills was also raised in the memorandum to the Chief Minister. The mini hydel projects at Rongmachok and Pelga and at the river Ganol has been welcomed by the student union. But they also want the revival of the thermal power plant at Nangalbibra and the completion of the 132 KV sub-station at Mendipather for uninterrupted power supply through the Agia line.
