Shillong, May 26 (UNI) Lone Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), Bernard Marak, is mulling taking legal action against the government for violating the tripartite pact with the two militant factions of A’chik National Volunteers Council (ANVC).
Marak, who once led the breakaway faction of ANVC commonly known as ANVC-B, accused the Meghalaya government of delaying the implementation of all the points agreed upon in the tripartite agreement.
In December 2014, the ANVC led by Dilash Marak and ANVC (B) surrendered arms and signed the affirmation for disbandment before then Chief Minister Mukul Sangma after they signed a historic memorandum of settlement with the central and state governments in September 2014.
“ANVC groups were betrayed, the whole tribal communities were betrayed, and the projects were hijacked by the State Government, leaving ADCs (Autonomous District Councils) in debt,” Marak said, accusing the central and state governments of violating the peace pact for failing to hold monitoring committee meetings to monitor the implementation of the tripartite agreement.
“However, for more than a decade the government cheated us, giving us false hope. It’s been more than 10 years, and no committees were formed and no meetings were held to monitor the agreement,” he said.
Accusing “Garo Chief Ministers” of betraying the tribal people's benefit by delaying the implementation of the tripartite agreement,
Marak said, “They also violated the points agreed upon in an agreement. We are left with no option but to serve them a legal notice for violating the agreement.”
“We were assured of a better life through the Tripartite Agreement, but we were targeted, apprehended, and slapped with multiple cases. Now, fighting the government legally is the only option left for us,” he further added.
According to Marak, the tripartite agreement focused on strengthening the traditional system to promote local self-governance, transfer of 13 state departments to the District Council, direct funding to the District Council, among others.
Instead of implementing the tripartite agreement, Marak accused the state government of hijacking the benefits of the agreement to the state departments.
Moreover, the former ANVC-B militant leader accused the NPP-led Executive Committee in the GHADC of misappropriating the Centre’s funds against GST, for which a show cause was issued to GHADC multiple times.
“Departments like Health, Education, Transport, Forest, Registration of Births and Deaths, ST certificates, documents related to land like Non-encumbrance, PRC, etc., were unlawfully taken over by the state instead of giving it to the Autonomous District Councils,” he alleged.
Further, Marak also challenged Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to prove his leadership by honouring the tripartite agreement instead of making irresponsible statements on projects sanctioned through the pact.
Marak also said that Tura Medical College is an outcome of the agreement and that Chief Minister Sangma should first hold a meeting before taking any decision on the project.
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