Meghalaya CM in talks with Centre to resolve NEHU crisis

SHILLONG, JAN 16: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said he has been in touch with the central government and North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) authorities to find a solution to the ongoing crisis.

“Yes, it is very unfortunate what is happening in NEHU, it is really affecting the students and the people working there. This seems to be a kind of deadlock situation as of now,” Sangma told reporters.

“I have been talking at different levels to the ministry and to the minister himself and others and even to NEHU. As you are aware, NEHU is a body that is directly under the central government, so it is very kind of a touchy issue for us to get directly involved, we can only play a role of mediation between the two, which is what we have been doing,” he said.

The Chief Minister acknowledged the challenges in resolving the issue and said, “Even while we mediate, when we give certain recommendations…and obviously due to ground situation those are not possible and again complications come up. This is what we have been seeing in NEHU. It becomes very difficult and complicated for us being a central government institute to directly get involved in this.”

Sangma assured that the state government is doing its best to find a solution, with the education minister in talks with NEHU officials.

“We are doing our best. Even as we speak, I think the education minister is in talks with some of the officials from NEHU trying to find a solution to this deadlock that we are having.”

He added, “We are doing our best, we will try our best, we will be in touch without interfering with the functioning and the autonomy of NEHU and without really affecting anybody, we are doing our best in the best possible way to see if there is a mediation that can be achieved and the students, specially the workers who are working, the casual workers hopefully will be able to do something to release their salaries.”

Sangma emphasized that while the issue is beyond the state government’s jurisdiction, they are taking it seriously and working to find a solution.

“It is something which is beyond the jurisdiction of the state government and our role as a mediator, but we are not taking it lightly. We are doing our best to see as at the end of the day, it is our people who are suffering and we would like to see we can be part of the solution.”