SHILLONG:
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday defended the decision of the state government to appoint retired DGP R Chandranathan as its security advisor and that criticism of the move was misplaced.
Talking to reporters, Sangma said the government works on multiple fronts and it is not easy to find people who understand the system and can contribute to it.
He said that it is easy to criticise and say that the government is giving reappointment after retirement, but it also gets benefits.
The chief minister was countering the recent allegations made by the Voice of the People Party (VPP) that the state government is on an appointment spree despite the acute financial crunch being faced by the state.
He said the state government needs to coordinate with the central government on different programmes and schemes.
“Therefore, it is very important to have a key person in a location like Delhi who would be able to coordinate with the Centre on security aspects. That is the whole purpose; some people will criticise, but we know what is the purpose and we are looking at the overall interest of the state,” Sangma said.
As for appointment of the new DGP, he said the state government was yet to take a decision, but would soon take a call.
“We have got the panel and recommendation from the UPSC so we will sit down at an appropriate time and decide,” Sangma said.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had shortlisted three names from Assam-Meghalaya joint cadre for the post of Meghalaya’s DGP and the list was forwarded to the state government recently.
The UPSC shortlisted names are Mukesh Agrawal, KV Singh Deo (both 1989 batch) and L Ram Bishnoi (1991 batch).
Out of the five names sent by the state government earlier after the retirement of R Chandranathan on December 21, 2021, the UPSC selected the three following the guidelines of the Supreme Court. The other two are S. Narayan Singh (1991 batch) and Idashisha Nongrang (1992 batch). Nongrang is functioning as the special DGP.
Among the shortlisted trio, Mukesh Agrawal is the senior most.