Meghalaya Cabinet Minister Dr M Ampareen Lyngdoh on Saturday voiced concern over the security scare in Shillong near Meghalaya Secretariat involving vehicles with tinted glasses and sirens, bouncers in black and displays of air guns that left citizens stunned, saying the episode probably now will forced the government to look at the policies in position and to review them at the earliest. “I must say that with this one exposure, probably now as a government we will be forced to look at the policies in position and to review them at the earliest,” Lyngdoh remarked, while clarifying that the official stand would come from Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Home (Police).
She added, “Probably I will not be the right person to respond on the official stand of the government because you have to speak to Deputy CM Home (Police). If you want me to talk and opine as a general citizen, then yes, when that story first broke, I was wondering whether everything was all right, and that safety was not compromised because suddenly there was this huge display of arms in ammunition that kind of took citizens by surprise. I don’t know whether this is permissible as per law. I don’t know whether necessary processes of requests or permissions to have access and to be using or all those kinds of machinery were in order. Likely the police department will already be engaging right now as we speak on what is legal and what is illegal. So allow me therefore to say that as a citizen, I would give great credit to the police, don’t know what tipped them, don’t know what prompted them to take that raid on the roads but I must say that with this one exposure, probably now as a government we will be forced to look at the policies in position and to review them at the earliest.”
Stressing the need to end the culture of individuals flaunting questionable security paraphernalia, she said, “Whether one individual is permitted a ‘Z’ category cordoning and protection by fake ammunition and guns, because if you tell me whether an air gun is really dangerous or not dangerous, I have no idea, but we have to stop this culture and arrest immediately. We should disallow Z categories as Z categories, ‘Y’ categories as U categories. There should be no confusion to the public of masking of interpretation of law and security provisions that citizens can have. So, yes, the police have done a right thing to expose this entire episode and I’m sure that the Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Home Police will make a statement whenever the report is ready.” Responding to questions on lawlessness, Lyngdoh said, “Therefore, I had said that perception of insecurity seems to be misguided and misinterpreted by few heroes calling themselves as influencer, social media heroes and making it look like verification of information is no longer permissible or necessary. So whether or not this is good for the state of Meghalaya, it is something that we need to collectively consider, public should not be gullible, stick to facts, interpretation of non-factual information should be banned. Who is going to bell the cat is a million dollars question. Was there a breach of security, the seizure and exposure of this kind of a fraudulent attempt.”
