A presidential visit to Tura for state games, 100 billion economy vision, a majority for NPP, killer floods in Garo Hills
Shillong, Dec 31: 2024 has been a memorable year for the citizens of Meghalaya- be it the joy in sporting success at the Meghalaya Games held for the first time in Tura that was witnessed by India’s President Droupadi Murmu, the dreams and expectation of a burgeoning economy with a state vision for USD 100 Billion by 2047, a beyond expectations results at the general elections in Tura and Shillong, a triumphant by-poll for the ruling NPP and its first ever clear majority in the assembly, or the tragic floods that wiped out entire families in the Garo Hills region.
The year began on a positive note for the state as Tura hosted its first ever state games in a glittering ceremony on January that had the presence of the first citizen on the country- President of India Droupadi Murmu- who not only enjoyed the gala opening ceremony but also spent a night in Tura- a first by a president to the Garo Hills. It also showed the sporting prowess of the state athletes and unearthed the hidden talent of the sportspersons of Garo Hills.
Sports gave way to elections in April when the country went in for electing a new Lok Sabha. The results in June were beyond expectations for many parties and candidates. Two new faces emerged from the results in both Shillong and Tura. Sitting Shillong MP Vincent Pala of the Congress got replaced by a victorious regional VPP party candidate Dr Ricky Andrew J Syngkon with a record margin of votes, while in Tura sitting NPP MP Agatha K Sangma gave way to Congress’ Saleng A Sangma.
From politics the state gave way to economics with Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma unveiling the ‘Viksit Meghalaya’ roadmap for a US Dollar 100 Billion economy by 2047 during his Independence Day speech at Shillong on August 15.
“I aspire for a ‘Viksit Meghalaya’… a USD 100-billion economy by 2047 when we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our statehood and the country’s 100 years of independence,” Sangma told the people of the state.
There was more in store for politics in the state when the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) received a major boost in August after three among the remaining four sitting Congress MLAs jumped ship. The merger of three out of four Congress MLAs gave the ruling NPP its first ever clear majority in the state (31 MLAs)- it also left the Congress barely hanging with a single MLA- a first in the history of the state. Despite the clear majority the NPP was magnanimous with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma assuring that his coalition government, comprising other parties such as the UDP and BJP, would continue.
Tragedy also blanketed the Garo Hills region- particularly Chokpot region in South Garo Hills and Dalu in West Garo Hills when torrential rains on the night of October 5th led to flash floods and landslides.
An entire family of seven members, including children and infants were buried alive in Hatisia Songma village of Chokpot after a hillock behind their home came down in the early hours of the morning. The death toll in the Garo Hills tragedy rose to 15.
Politics returned to the state in November when bypolls for Gambegre was announced following its sitting Congress MLA Saleng A Sangma winning the Tura MP seat. The ruling NPP extracted revenge for the Tura Lok Sabha loss with chief minister Conrad K Sangma’s wife Mehtab Chandee A Sangma winning the Gambegre bypoll, pushing the congress candidate to a distant third after the Trinamool Congress’ Sadhiarani Sangma.
Corruption also came to feature in the state’s news headlines over a multi-crore scam involving contractors and state engineers in the construction of a road.
Nine people, including senior engineers of the state government and officials of two private companies based in Telangana and Haryana, were named in an FIR lodged in this connection.
“Several lapses forced the government to lodge an FIR into the road project amounting to over Rs 2,300 crore,” a senior official of the Public Works Department had told PTI.
The road project connecting the state capital Shillong with Tura, via Nongstoin and Rongjeng, was approved in 2010, as part of the Special Road Development Programme-North East of the central government.
The Citizenship Amendment Act issue also continued to dominate the news waves in the state.
The chief minister, in an interview to PTI, asserted that concerns of Meghalaya over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act have been addressed, as most areas of the state come under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which exempts them from the law.
Sangma, who heads the National People’s Party (NPP), also stressed on the requirement for the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime in his state, which will restrict the entry of “outsiders”.
He made mention of a resolution passed by the state assembly, too, to extend the ILP to the state.
The Meghalaya Assembly had in December 2019 adopted a resolution for implementing the ILP regime.
The ILP is a special permit required by “outsiders” from other regions of India to enter the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.
“Our concerns are that anybody from outside the country is a non-Indian, and illegal immigration is illegal immigration. Citizens coming from other countries would be in a way foreigners coming into our country,” he said.
As the year came to a close and in the backdrop of so many issues- controversial or otherwise, the silver lining in the sky was the beginning of classes and training for the first batch of medical students from a private university- the P A Sangma International Medical College in Meghalaya- a first by a private university. Having received the license to run the medical college, the MBBS course of the P A Sangma International Medical College in the premises of the University of Science and Technology took off with an intake of 150 students- 64 of whom belong to Meghalaya.
