Shillong, June 4: Political leaders and the officers of the eight Northeastern states landed in Shillong on Thursday (June 4) for the 73rd session of the North Eastern Council (NEC), but the initiative was not free from troubles.
While local journalists were denied entry to the meeting hall, the commuters, including the office-goers, could not move along the road outside as they had to give way to the vehicles of the VIPs.
No one took responsibility for the lack of coordination with the media persons who were given passes only to enter and not to cover the event.
In the Polo area, angry commuters honked their vehicles around 10 am to protest against blocking the road to facilitate the movement of the VVIPs and the VIPs.
Some commuters were seen arguing with the magistrates and the police personnel.
Inside the convention centre, Gunmen dictated terms as they stood firm at the entrance of the hall where the NEC meeting was held.
The security overdrive by the police gave an impression that it was a high-security defence meeting rather than a session to plan development initiatives for the North East.
When asked, an NEC official blamed the Department of North Eastern Region (DoNER) ministry, while the security personnel cited orders from ‘above’ for the restrictions.
According to sources, the expenditure for the meeting will run into crores of rupees in terms of fuel, food and accommodations of the VIPs and officers, among others.
Many officers had arrived a day before, on June 3 and held meetings.
This, despite the fact that the Prime Minister had urged the nation to adopt austerity measures, including online meetings, due to the ongoing war impacting the economy.
When asked about the austerity measures by the DoNER ministry, the DoNER secretary, Sanjay Jaju, was not ready to respond.
Not a single press conference was held either by the NEC or DoNER officials leave alone the union ministers, to sum up the outcome of the meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
