Shillong Nov 30: The Meghalaya government and the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday reviewed the progress of the implementation of the “agreed text for settlement†which was signed by the Centre, and state government with the disbanded militant outfit, Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) and its breakaway faction, the ANVC-B.
Meghalaya chief minister, Conrad K. Sangma, Deputy chief minister, Prestone Tynsong, MHA Joint Secretary (Northeast), Satyendra Garg along with officials of the state Home Department and members of the disbanded outfit (ANVC) attended the meeting.
The “agreed text for settlement†was signed in New Delhi on September 24, 2014, and both the ANVC and ANVC-B were formally disbanded at a public ceremony at Tura in West Garo Hills district on December 15, 2014.
The ANVC presented a total of 447 cadres and 301 cadres of the ANVC-B.
Speaking to reporters, the Chief Minister said that the meeting was held to find out what has happened after the agreement was signed and the kind of efforts and steps taken by the government in this regard.
He said that there were some concerns expressed by the disbanded ANVC members and those have been taken note.
Stating that the meeting was very positive, he said that the state government was committed to move forward and the Central government too was committed.
He said that development was one of main issues that were included in the “agreed text for settlement†and a lot of development projects have been done in the past.
On giving more autonomy to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, he said that powers or giving more subjects to the GHADC, the state government had earlier come out with a note on certain areas and that has been shared with the GHADC.
“The state government and the GHADC will sit again and review whether the Council accepts those or not, and based on that, we will move forward,†Conrad said.
Asked about the rehabilitation package, he said that all processes were done based on guidelines given by MHA. “Based on that, every individual cadre is looked into and once they fulfill those criterias laid down by the MHA, then the compensation is given to them. There are some cases, and we have asked them to make a list of people who they say have not received the compensation. I have asked DGP to look into those aspects and study it and get back to us on that,†he said.
Satyendra Garg said that during the review meeting, transfer of some subjects to the GHADC was also discussed, and the state government will do the needful.
Garg said that he was happy that a lot of progresses have been made and both the factions of ANVC in a different way have discussed it.
He also said that an annual review of the “agreed text for settlement†will be held in Shillong as every ministry and department will show the progress made regarding the implementation of the agreement.
