Shillong, Sept 13: The opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) on Friday slammed the legislators belonging to the ruling coalition partners for allegedly taking away the space meant for opposition MLAs in raising issues confronting the people and the state in the recently concluded Assembly’s autumn session.

VPP chief and Nongkrem legislator Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit has cited this as the main reason for the party to stage the one-day sit-in-demonstration as a mark of protest against the unprecedented price rise of all essential commodities that is hitting hard the people of the state especially the poor and the downtrodden.

Speaking to reporters at the protest venue at Malki football ground, Basaiawmoit said, “Assembly is a platform where opposition (MLAs) should be given ample time to discuss important issues that are affecting the people of the state but sadly, what was witnessed in the past few years that this particular space or opportunity has been taken away by the MLAs belonging to the ruling coalition partners.”

“All MLAs from the ruling, who are praising the government, are also coming up with issues and grievances. I feel when they are part of the government, they should have just met the ministers or chief minister; what is the need (for them) to raise it in the Assembly? I feel this is nothing but an attempt to block and take away the opportunity of the opposition MLAs to raise important issues inside the House,” he said while adding “The recent action of the Speaker is also reflecting of this (taking away rights of opposition MLAs) otherwise he should have allowed discussion on this issue of price rise during the recently concluded House, so that the minister can reply according to the issues being raised by the opposition but the minister instead was only stating the steps taken by the government to address the issue. Due to this attitude, we are left with no option but to take the issue out here. Hence, this one-day sit-in-protest today.”

“Further, we have also assured the people of the state that we will follow up and we will protest, if necessary. Therefore, we have come here to stage a one-day sit-in-demonstration as a mark of protest against price rise, which has affected the common man to a large extent.”

Asked, the VPP chief said that the party is of the opinion that the absence of railways in Meghalaya may be one of the factors contributing to the problem of price rise.

“However, if the government is saying that the price rise is due to absence of railways in the state then it should also come up with statistics to compare the prices of commodities in other states. We (the VPP) have done a comparison study in Mizoram. We found that the prices of commodities are more cheaper in Mizoram, Dimapur, Assam,” he said.

Expressing concern over the presence of too many toll gates along the state and national highways, the VPP chief said, “Beef in Dimapur is Rs 300 and here it is almost double Rs 500 or Rs 600. If you look at the price rise of beef, we cannot deny that there is shortage of cattle. But there are also other reasons. We cannot deny that Meghalaya is witnessing the presence of too many check gates – there toll gates of Syiem, district councils, police along the roadside – there are many reasons behind the price rise.”

“Therefore, we want the state government to find out ways and means to address this issue,” he added.

Also, Basaiawmoit expressed surprise that despite exploitation against farmers, who have to sell their produces at cheaper rates, yet the consumers continue to pay for essential commodities at exorbitant prices.

“It is duty of the state government to investigate, take action and address the issue. Why farmers are being exploited, having to sell their producers at cheaper rate while consumers continue to pay exorbitant prices for essential commodities.”

“Therefore, we want to take up this issue with the government so that the department of food & civil supplies will take steps as we found many are also violating the prices fixed by the government as there is no follow up on the matter. The reason is due to failure of the government,” he said.

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