Shillong, Aug 20: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday informed that no major incidents have happened in Shillong city for the last 24 hours. He added that there has been calmness in most parts of the city.

Sangma said there have been a lot of discussions held with stakeholders and different individuals to ensure there is peace in Shillong City.

“We are continuing to communicate to different stakeholders to ensure that normalcy returns to Shillong city and the state as a whole,” Sangma told reporters at his weekly press meet in Shillong on Friday.

He also shared that on Friday too there was another round of meeting with some of them.

“Apart from that there is a continuous engagement in terms of issues which needs to be worked on so all aspects are looked into. This process requires a lot of discussion and confidence building and lot of talk has to be done,” stated Sangma.

The government is hopeful that normalcy will return and at the same time police and government is ensuring that they don’t take things too lightly. “Therefore, the government is not taking anything lightly and ensuring that all measures are taken to ensure that citizens are safe,” he assured.

Demand to remove security from some parts 

Some of the organisations have asked the Government not to deploy any central forces or Meghalaya Police (MLP) in areas, especially Mawlai, since the residents were angry after the killing of former HNLC general secretary Cherishterfield Thangkhiew on August 13, 2021 which later escalated to the district administration imposing curfew and suspending internet services in the entire East Khasi Hills district. The same restrictions were also imposed by government in other districts in Khasi-Jaintia Hills.

Concerning this demand, the chief minister said they have decided that Meghalaya Police (MLP) would be present in certain locations. He said that there were individuals and certain organisations who stressed that they should not be in the presence. “As a government we clearly indicated that okay central forces will be deployed in other locations but MLP will be there in areas that are sensitive and accordingly we had deployed them,” stated Sangma.

Asked if other illegal activities like drugs takes a lead because security in the state is more concerned about the prevailing situation, to which Sangma clarified that government is making sure all these aspects are looked into.

He explained that law and order is a broad subject and overall they have to ensure illegal activities don’t take place.

“We have deployed MLP in all these locations and there is sufficient manpower. Concerning organisations not wanting forces, I would defer, there have been many organisations and individuals who have told us that there should be MLP in different locations. So there has been support and demand though there have been one or two who have differed but the majority has asked that MLP force should be there,” stressed Sangma.