Meghalaya govt urges protesting youths to withdraw fast

Meghalaya government today appealed to youths, who have been on an indefinite hunger strike demanding the passage of a bill to institutionalise traditional institutions, to withdraw their agitation.
"Since the government has taken steps and May 27 is not very far of, I request Adelbert Nongrum and all his friends to kindly withdraw the fast," government Chief Adviser and former Chief Minister D D Lapang told reporters.
On May 27, the government had convened a meeting with the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) to discuss the village administration bills passed by both the councils.

Lapang, who also heads a government-appointed committee formed for institutionalising traditional bodies, said, "I had contacted District Council Affairs Minister H D R Lyngdoh (who is presently in Delhi) on the position of the case as a follow-up."
"The government is trying to remove all doubts, omission and commission in the draft bills. In these two bills, there are provisions which conflict with the powers of both the Centre and the state, and it wants to ensure that they will not have confronted conflicts later," he said.
Adelbert Nongrum, a former chief of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), and another youth, Goldy Warjri, along with some others have been on hunger strike since May 16 in the city demanding that the village administration bill be passed by the government.

The bill was necessary to institutionalise the traditional institutions in the state legalising their powers after the High Court struck down the powers of the village chiefs earlier this year, they contended.