KHNAM oppose Govt’s order to disallow ‘visitors’ to the secretariat without prior appointment

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 27, 2025

The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) on Thursday expressed strong opposition against the government’s order not to allow “visitors” to enter the secretariat buildings without prior permission.

In a statement, KHNAM working president Thomas Passah has termed the order as nothing  but an attempt to turn the secretariat into the “office of the high level” by disallowing the public to go to the secretariat without prior permission.

“We strongly condemn such an order, which seeks to prevent the public from taking their grievances to the public representatives or the government. Therefore, we demand the government to immediately change such orders,” he said.

“We also fail to understand why the government is so scared. Is it because the government has done things that it has to hide itself from the public? What am I supposed to do if I have to file RTIs with the different departments in the secretariat? Does it mean that it would require me to take permission from the Public Information Officer? Or what should we do if we have to submit any letters to the secretariat? We understand that if we have to request for permission, we have no doubt that we will not get it and if we do, it will be after waiting for many months. As a party, we had sought appointment with the chief minister for the past five years but till date no appointment has been given,” Passah said.

The KHNAM leader also questioned if the UDP, HSPDP and others who are supporting the MDA government will allow such an order to be implemented.

An order issued by Principal Secretary incharge Secretariat Administration Department Syed Md A Razi on March 25 said it has come to the notice of the department that “visitors” are allowed to enter the secretariat buildings without a proper system of entry and checking while coming to meet the VIPs/officers/departments/offices inside the secretariat thereby causing lot of inconvenience to both the parties. Entry should be based on prior appointments and approved by the concerned VIPs/officers.

“Henceforth, no visitors will be allowed to enter the secretariat buildings (main building including Yojana bhavan, Additional Building & third secretariat building) with immediate effect without prior appointments and approval from VIPs/officers. Receptionists in the secretariat buildings are instructed that prior permission of the VIP/officer concerned should be taken through the private secretary/personal assistant to the minister/officer before allowing any visitor to meet the concerned VIP/officer,” the order said.

“Furthermore, all officers and staff are requested to wear their identity cards and casual employees/consultants etc, to display their building pass at the time of entry and exit inorder to avoid any confusion between a government employee and a visitor. No person will be allowed to enter the secretariat buildings without proper identity card/building pass for security reasons,” it stated.