Tura, Oct 23: South Garo Hills cops are allegedly extorting money from transporters engaged in road repairs for the upcoming visit of Meghalaya Governor C H Vijayashankar who is arriving in the southern region for a two day visit, beginning Oct 24th.
Sources from the transporters and government officials spoke to The Meghalayan Express to express anger over the alleged extortion racket being perpetrated by police at two places- namely Siju police station and at Rongdik bridge, on the road to baghmara.
Ahead of the Governor’s visit, trucks have been ferrying boulders and stones from Rongdong towards Baghmara to repair damaged roads since the governor plans to travel between Baghmara and the border belt by road.
“They force the trucks to pay a thousand rupees at Siju police station and again Rs 1000 at Rongdik bridge. For what purpose are they collecting this money without any receipt? This has been happening for close to a month since trucks were engaged in ferrying boulders, ” revealed officials who have been informed by truckers engaged in the work about the difficulties being faced in view of the alleged monetary demand.
“It is not just the boulder trucks who have to pay, even goods laden trucks, including mini pick up trucks, bringing in essential items are having to pay uo while passing through Siju and Rongdik bridge for a long time,” informed some of the victims.
Annoyed by the rampant demand for cash to pass through, officials have decided to complain to higher authorities including the office of the chief minister.
South Garo Hills also has the dubious distinction of being the centre of the sugar smuggling racket into Bangladesh before the parliamentary elections in April.
It is worth mentioning that at several police stations across Garo Hills, barriers put up on the road outside the stations act as alleged points for goods laden vehicles to stop and pay up to pass through without any hassle from the men in uniform.
