SHILLONG, NOV 6: NPP candidate for the Shillong Lok Sabha byelection, Dr DRL Nonglait, on Thursday said successive governments had failed to fulfil the aspirations of the youth of Meghalaya, but the present government had delivered where others could not.
Addressing an election campaign at Nangbah in West Jaintia Hills district, Nonglait said he was speaking not as a party man praising his own party, but as an officer and a teacher who had witnessed the change.
“I have been able to witness and take part at a time when I was not yet a member of the NPP,” Nonglait said. “I am not praising my own Party but as an officer and a teacher who watches and sees and who values.”
Recalling his days in college, Nonglait said the demand for a medical college and a state university was decades old.
“Since my time, when I was still in college, we demanded a Medical College,” he said. “The student unions, the public organisations, we demanded that there be a Medical College, that there be a State University, because there is only NEHU, but one Government after another Government could not do that, could not fulfil the aspirations of the youth.”
“Even education which is still at the school level, problems kept coming one after another,” he said. “I am a witness who has seen with my own eyes and who has spoken.”
Nonglait pointed to the opening of the National Law University in 2023-2024 and the opening of two nursing colleges as proof of delivery.
“In the year 2023-2024, the National Law University was opened and I am very thankful that when the Nursing Colleges were being prepared in the past few years, NEHU, from the department which I myself headed, and I was also able to give the permission,” he said.
“I was only the officer to issue the order, so that two Nursing Colleges could be opened, one at Civil Hospital and one at Ganesh Das,” he said.
He credited Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla for fast-tracking the process.
“Every time Bah Wailad came as Health Minister, he opened the way to give certification within a month,” Nonglait said. “From my side, I sent the inspection team quickly and placed the report before the committee and under the leadership of Bah Wailad, we were able to open the two Nursing Colleges.”
On technical and professional education, Nonglait said the present government had brought a major transformation.
“When it comes to Technical and Professional education, this Government has brought a huge change, an educational reform which we have seen that in the years to come, the youth of this state will benefit,” he said.
He also highlighted the government’s response to teachers’ demands.
“When it comes to schools, the teachers came to Madan Malki to demand,” Nonglait said. “Now this Government has given a new salary, a fixed salary, now there is an increment every year, there is also a saving of money for teachers who are in service and for retirement.”
“I say that this is a Government that works,” he said. “This is a Government that listens.”
Nonglait also wished Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar and Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla well, saying their strength and energy would continue to lead.
