Shillong, Nov 6: Elderly women staging protest against the Shillong Ropeway project were requested by the East Khasi Hills district administration to return home and, if they want, resume protest on Saturday.
Led by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) against Shillong Ropeway project, the women continued their sit-in demonstration at Barik here till at 7 pm when Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal urged them to call it a day.
The permission for the protest was granted till 4 pm.
“It’s already 7 pm, they are elderly ladies. For their own benefit, they should disperse. So I came to request them as deputy commissioner. We are still talking to them, trying to make them understand our point of view,” he said.
He assured that the protest can continue the next day.
“For their own sake we want them to go home and the demonstration can happen next day as well, it is not a problem,” he said.
“As of now they are saying that they want to stay here for longer… the magistrate is here, police is here… the magistrate will be in continuous touch with them,” he added.
Asked about violation of the permission, Baranwal said the administration would examine the matter but did not want an adversarial situation.
“The permission was given till 4 pm. If somebody violates the conditions, we will have to examine what action can be taken… but these are elderly ladies, we wanted to request them… we are still in talk with them,” he said.
On the protesters’ wish to shift inside, he said, “We have to find out as they want to shift inside, we have to find out how to work about.”
