Shillong, Oct 7: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said the government is in continuous dialogue with the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and there is no stalemate, even as incidents of petrol bomb attacks on government establishments are being reported.
Responding to a query on when the impasse with KSU will end, Sangma said, “No there is no question of when stalemate is going to end, it is not stalemate, we are in dialogue, we are discussing, and we are ensuring that we move into situation where we are able to resolve the concerns that not just KSU but any other organization may have.”
Reiterating that dialogue is key, he said, “We always believe that dialogue is very important and wherever we find concerns are genuine we never shy away from talking to whichever organization and that is the kind of principle that we have adopted.”
“We have expressed this not only in this incident but we have shown in the past incidents and situations that we have faced, so therefore we are working towards it,” he added.
The chief minister said strict action will be taken against individuals who take law into their own hands, irrespective of affiliations.
“In the whole process, certain situations and certain incidents may happen but as I said once again, whenever we find evidence of anybody taking law into their hands, it is not about any organization, it is not about any NGOs but whoever individual is involved the necessary action will be taken as per law, that is our clear stand,” he said.
“When it comes to issues and concerns that organizations have, as a government we are open to talks and in future we will continue to be open to any discussion and dialogue to resolve these problems,” he added.
On the impact of the August 19 violence on tourism and reports of hotel cancellations, Sangma said the sector was majorly affected but is now slowly recovering.
“We have to be aware that when such situations happen then it is our own stakeholders, our own people, who get affected. Therefore violence does not solve anybody’s problem or help anybody,” he said.
“Tourism sector was affected majorly but we are now recovering back from it, all efforts are being made to ensure that we build up confidence that involves and includes strict action being taken by the government against individuals who are involved in violence and ensuring that in future also we don’t have such incidents,” he said.
Appealing to all organizations to adopt peaceful means, he said, “We would like to appeal to all stakeholders, to all organizations that we need to realize that there are consequences that we take and while we have got issues that we need to voice out and concerns are there, this has to be done in proper manner, proper platform and through proper procedures.”
“Violence is not the answer, and violence will lead to further damaging our economy, our tourism sector especially which ultimately affects our own people. We have seen in the past, the overall tourism sector being affected but we are working now and we have seen the situation improving slowly and steadily and from the government side all efforts are being made to ensure that we can bring back normalcy,” he added.
