Letter from the EDITOR
Harsh Jhunjhunwala
The engineering marvel of Bhupen Hazarika bridge is something to cheer for all Indians including the boatmen who have basically lost their livelihoods. This bridge has opened new avenues and the boatmen should be the part of the first opportunities that are to be provided by the Sonowal Government. Getting livelihood for each and every person displaced by any infrastructure project or any other is to be the first step in the planning of the project. The street lights on the bridge were not missed on purpose but the oversight was alarming. A project of such repute cannot have any scope of complacency. With India shinning and North East India starting to get the due attention it deserves time is right for the powers at the center to make things right for the region once and for all. Be it infrastructural or final settlement to various peace accords, speed is of essence to make them count.
If the history of the Bhupen Hazarika Bridge is to be revisited then we find that the Road, Transport and Highway Ministry cleared its feasibility study in 2003. The project was initiated in 2011 with target completion in 2015 and actually completed in 2017. The Bhupen Hazarika Bridge which is named after the famous Indian singer born at Sadiya will change the face of upper Assam and that of Arunachal Pradesh.
With World Environment day around the corner people and especially the government departments will enter into frenzy to plant trees and popular speeches. Though 90% of them will not look back at the tree saplings planted by them last year and what is its status? Such is the folly of the thought process of the bureaucracy that accountability has gone for toss and eyewash is the order of the day. What people forget is that governments change but the officers are the same! Irony is that in a state like Meghalaya with so many natural resources there is still no mining policy.
The lake island of Karang in Manipur was declared the first cashless island of India in early January. Sunzu Bachaspatimayum finds out the truth were that the infrastructure required for the same is just not in place. The recent results of SEBA ( Secondary Education Board of Assam) has raised questions on the strategy of the earlier governments to provide grace marks to pass the students. This strategy might also be one of the reasons as to why there were so many drop outs at higher levels and the rise in the numbers of unemployable youths in the state. However with the real scenario of quality of education out in the open now, the Government of Assam needs to come up with a policy for felicitating the needs of the under-performing students as well check on the quality of teaching. The matter should be of concern to all the state boards of the region as the quality of education cannot be compromised.
On a high note major refugees crisis at Saiha district in Mizoram was averted by the security forces. EP awardee Anshu Jempa’s drive for her passion has made every Indian proud. Her double ascent of Mount Everest in the same season is a feat achieved only once in the history by a female climber.
Well things seem to be on a progressive track along the northeast, troubled times await the election bound state of Meghalaya. There is stiff opposition to railway lines to Byrnihat by the Khasi Students Union. With property being damaged by miscreants it is necessary for the student union to distant itself from miscreants who are using this agitation to hijack the peace of the state and polarize the state just for electoral benefits. The administration should make sure that no innocent life is lost and that the consensus is reached as soon as possible. With the advances in Social Media people are more aware and a state like Meghalaya where Tourism is making inroad cannot afford any further drop in its economy.
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