Govt to set up mini secretariats in two oldest districts of Meghalaya: Tynsong

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaNovember 6, 2020

The state government has announced setting up of mini secretariats in the two oldest district headquarters of the state to improve the delivery mechanism by bringing important departments under one roof.

“We have decided that mini secretariats will be constructed in all the eleven districts starting with Jowai and Tura which are the two oldest district headquarters of the state,” Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong told reporters on Friday.

Stating that the objective is to improve the administrative control of the government, Tynsong said, “We wanted to house all the departments located in the respective district in one building where the public can have easy accessibility and complete their works in one roof.”

The announcement also came in the wake of strong opposition against the government’s decision to shift the Public Works Department (PWD) North Division from Jowai town to Shangpung village in West Jaintia Hills district.  

The deputy chief minister however maintained that there is no politics involved in the decision to shift the office of the PWD from Jowai to Shangpung village and said, “We only want to bring administration closer to the people.”

Tynsong also informed that the government had received a representation from the Synjuk ki Waheh Shnong of Jowai expressing displeasure of shifting the office from the town to Shangpung village.

“But as you all know the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Jowai has no proper parking space and that people who have to go to the office also have to cross the congested Iawmusiang, which is the biggest market in Jaintia Hills. Therefore, we have decided to shift the DC’s office to the premises of the PWD in order to convert it into a mini secretariat,” he said.  

Asked, the deputy chief minister said design and detailed project reports (DPRs) are being prepared and the process of handing over the land to the respective deputy commissioners is on.

“Because of financial constraints, we will start with these two districts,” he said while adding that the decision of the government is justified in view of the fact that most of the government offices are functioning from private buildings on rented basis.