Public safety comes first: SAFF

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 10, 2020

The Shillong All Faiths Forum (SAFF) has asserted that public safety should come first in as far as the issue related to the proposed reopening of religious places in the state is concerned.

The issue was discussed at the general meeting of the SAFF chaired by its president Bishop P Lyngdoh on Thursday.

The meeting also deliberated on the items to be proposed to the government in relation to the re-examination of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for reopening of places of worship in the state.

A statement issued by the SAFF said that the meeting has decided to issue a clarification to the general public that it is the Government of India who took the initiative to open the places of worship in the country from the September 21 and the state government suggested that the places of worship in the State be opened from the first week of October, if there is considerable improvement in the situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the State.

“(However) the SAFF is also of the view that public safety should come first,” it said.

The statement said that the state government has formed a Joint Committee with representatives from the SAFF to facilitate a re-examination of the SOP for the opening of religious places in the State.

Among those who attended were representatives from Sein Raij Jowai, Shillong Muslim Union, Central Puja Committee, Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Shillong Buddhist Association, Ramakrishna Mission Laitumkhrah, Archdiocese of Shillong, Church of North India, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Unitarian Church, Garo Baptist Church, while messages and inputs were received from the Ri-Bhoi Presbyterian Church Synod, NEI Fellowship of Charismatic Churches, Assembly Church of Jesus Christ India, and individual Church leaders.