Shillong, Feb 10: The Trinamool Congress on Friday criticised other political parties for not flagging the issues pertinent to Meghalaya in Parliament.
Addressing a press conference at the Windermere Resort in Shillong, Meghalaya TMC State President Charles Pyngrope along with MP and Leader of AITC Parliamentary Party, Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, slammed the MDA coalition for its multiple transgressions, including the rice scam, smart meter scam, police vehicle scam, and the infamous Assembly dome collapse among other things.
The leaders also held a screening of the parliamentary speeches made by Trinamool MPs concerning various issues of Meghalaya such as the inclusion of the Garo and Khasi languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution, attack on Christian institutions, scams in Meghalaya, illegal coal mining and lack of development in Meghalaya and the North East.
The near-fatal attack on two activists, Agnes Kharshiing and Amita Sangma, were also raised in the House.
Slamming the state government for the complete breakdown of law and order in the state, Pyngrope said, “The deployment of central paramilitary forces to stop the illegal transportation of coal is a clear reminder to the state government that they are not doing their job, irrespective of the fact that the High Court has asked them to do so. This is not merely contempt of court but also a total disorder of law and order in the state.”
Elaborating on the parliamentary proceedings of the last session, O’Brien said, “We made it a point to raise every issue of Meghalaya in Parliament. We say this with all the humility and pride that Trinamool Congress delivers. What were the other national parties doing? Parliament was on for 10 days. I challenge other national and regional parties to show you two minutes of any of their MPs raising a single issue [of Meghalaya]. Nobody did. We didn’t do Meghalaya any favour. It was our duty to raise these serious issues and we will continue to do the same.”
On December 19, 2022, O’Brien demanded accountability from the Centre in Parliament and asked about the lack of development in Meghalaya and the Northeastern states, despite announcing Rs 7,000-crore allocation for the region.
On February 7 this year, the TMC parliamentarian also raised the issue of several instances of graft in Meghalaya including the smart meter scam, rice scam, and the police vehicle scam. O’Brien also highlighted that the under-construction dome of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly that crashed last year was built by the Uttar Pradesh Nirman Nigam Ltd. On the same day, he raised the issue of attacks on Christian institutions.
On February 8, while TMC MP Jawhar Sircar called for the inclusion of Garo and Khasi Languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, MP Abir Ranjan Biswas raised the issue of rampant illegal coal mining in the state and demanded justice against the attacks on activists exposing the same in the state.
