Northeast Desk, 15th September: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) sharply criticized Meghalaya’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Comingone Ymbon, for attributing the rise in essential commodity prices to the absence of railway connectivity in the state. In a statement, KSU General Secretary Donald V Thabah deemed Ymbon’s claim as an “irresponsible” attempt to divert attention from the government’s inability to control prices.
Thabah urged the public not to be misled by such remarks and reiterated the KSU’s long-standing opposition to the introduction of railway lines in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills. He stressed that unless preventive mechanisms are implemented to control the influx of outsiders into Meghalaya, the union would continue its resistance to any railway project in the region. Specifically, he emphasized the need for the Eastern Bengal Frontier Regulation 1873, commonly known as the Inner Line Permit (ILP), to be put in place before any railways are considered.
Recalling the protests of 1989, Thabah warned that the KSU would take action if there are moves to introduce railway lines in the state.
Minister Comingone Ymbon had earlier linked the state’s price rise to the absence of railways, pointing out that the state is entirely dependent on truck transportation for essential commodities. His statement was in response to a one-day sit-in protest by the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP), which had criticized the government for failing to control the rising costs of essential goods ahead of the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) elections. Ymbon accused the VPP of using the issue of price rise as a political tool to gain favor before the elections.