Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday informed that the state government has recently reconstituted the regional committees for starting the second phase of border talks with Assam..
Replying to the debate on the Governor’s Address, Sangma said, “We are hopeful that post the Assembly session, we will be starting our communication with the Assam government in order to initiate discussion on the border issue as has been promised to the people of the state.”.
The chief minister also assured that the government will take every single stakeholder on board in the next phase of border talks.
He said that the border issue is very complex and that the government is working towards finding an amicable solution.
On the issue of drug menace, chief minister said the government has really taken the matter very seriously and in the past few years, almost 726 cases have been registered and over 1,000 people have been arrested in drugs and narcotic cases.
He informed that the home department is coming up with a law to ensure strict measures are taken to book the drug peddlers.
Sangma said the government is in discussion with different NGOs, who are running these organizations for financial support to them.
The chief minister informed that almost 1,701 cases have been registered against illegal transportation of coal and over 200 cases registered against illegal coal mining in the state.
“Therefore, police are doing their job,” he said.
The chief minister also informed that over Rs 230 crore was collected as non-tax revenue in the state.
Stating that the government is taking steps to promote lakadong turmeric, he said 15 units of slicing, washing and grinding for lakadong turmeric run on solar power has been set up and are run by women self-help groups adding the curcumin extraction unit was also set up.
“We have managed to increase the turmeric production by 10 times,” he claimed.