TURA:
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has informed that the state cabinet will meet next week to pave the way for implementation of the roster system in line with the existing job reservation policy of the state.
The cabinet is expected to meet by June 7.
“A new roster system will be put in place when our cabinet meets on 6th or 7th of June and it will be implemented as per the existing reservation policy,” clarified Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
The chief minister made this announcement in a press conference at Tura circuit house shortly after holding over three gruelling hours of deliberations with a host of Garo Hills-based organisations to clear the air on the roster system of the job reservation policy of the state.
The chief minister met and discussed the contentious issue with the groups in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and Meghalaya Chief Secretary D P Wahlang.
As many as 19 Garo organisations, ranging from the Garo Students Union to the Garo Graduates Union, attended the meeting with the chief minister.
Sangma began the meeting with a presentation on the roster system, its benefits and ways to go forward with its implementation. Several queries were raised by the participating organisations on the roster system.
The chief minister also told the participating groups that an expert committee is being set up that will go into the reservation policy in detail and this has been decided following a decision made by the all-party committee.
Sangma cleared the air on the powers of the expert committee that will be set up maintaining that its role would be limited to taking the views and feedback of the stakeholders in the state and also added that there is currently no time frame being given to it to complete the task.
“The committee members will be incorporated and they will take the opinions of the public and stakeholders, go into the background of the reservation policy not just in the state but at the national level as well and submit their report to the government. The government will take the final decision after submission of the committee report,” said the chief minister.