STEPS TAKEN BY STATE GOVT TO PROTECT RESIDENTS AND CURB CRIMINAL ELEMENTS
In the wake of the sensational honeymoon murder in Sohra, the Meghalaya government on Friday decided to strengthen an existing legislation aimed at ensuring the safety of state residents and curbing the entry of criminal elements posing as tourists.
The move comes weeks after the gruesome murder of Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, who was killed during a honeymoon trip to Sohra, in a plot orchestrated by his wife and her lover.
“The cabinet today decided to revisit the Meghalaya Resident Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016, an existing state legislation, to add more teeth to this Act to minimise the possibility of criminal elements entering Meghalaya in the guise of tourists,” Cabinet spokesperson Paul Lyngdoh said after the cabinet meeting here.
“The government will soon come up with a formal proposal to further strengthen the MRSSA,” he said.
The 2016 Act was originally introduced to enhance the security of Meghalaya residents through the vetting of tenants and tourists.
It allows for identity verification through a tourism-specific app and has provisions similar to those under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system, which the state has long been seeking from the Centre.
According to Lyngdoh, the Assembly had adopted a resolution demanding implementation of the Inner Line Permit in Meghalaya.
“The matter is pending before the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. There were several queries from the Ministry which the state government had addressed,” he said, adding that the Union Ministry had expressed concern since Meghalaya is a transit state to other parts of the North East.
The Cabinet minister also informed that the MRSSA is already a very effective legislation, which will need a little bit of “upscale” as of now.
The urgency to revisit the Act was triggered by the case involving Sonam, the wife of murdered businessman Raja.
She had allegedly conspired to kill her husband along with her lover and his friends, and entered Meghalaya under the guise of a tourist.
According to Lyngdoh, the Cabinet placed on record its gratitude to the entire police department for cracking this case in record time and arresting all the accused, saving the state from a “bad name”.
Meghalaya Cabinet expresses gratitude to police for handling Sohra case
The Meghalaya Cabinet on Friday adopted a resolution to formally acknowledge with gratitude the various agencies, government departments and especially the role played by police department in handling and cracking the recent murder of a tourist from Indore, Madhya Pradesh Raja Raghuvanshi, at Sohra last month.
Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh said the cabinet acknowledged with heartfelt gratitude the role of all stakeholders specially those who are part of the rescue team which trekked and stationed themselves at Sohra for the past 15 days or so.
He said the cabinet will also formerly meet officers like the DGP and her team from the East Khasi Hills police in order to pay respect and acknowledge the role that they have played in cracking the case.
Within a span of just seven days, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested the Raja’s wife Sonam Raghuvanshi and four other accused involved in the murder case. “I had personally met them at Sohra day before yesterday where we had also given them cash incentives of Rs 15,000 per volunteer along with certificates,” Lyngdoh, who is also the government’s spokesperson said in reference to the search and rescue team members.
Meanwhile, the cabinet has also condoled the loss of about 290 lives in the Air India crash at Ahmedabad.
“We pray our tribute to all those who have lost their lives and that includes passengers on board as well as students of the medical college on which the aircraft had landed,” the minister said.
Tourist footfalls increase in Sohra, says Meghalaya tourism minister
The murder of Raja Raghuvanshi has not impacted the tourist footfall in Sohra, one of the popular tourist destination in Meghalaya, State Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh said on Friday.
“The footfall of tourist in Sohra is increasing. Even when the murder case is being investigated, tourist continues to visit Sohra,” Lyngdoh said.
He said the tourist footfall is expected to touch 20 lakh after the upcoming Cherry Blossom festival to be held later this year.
There were raising concerns that the recent murder of Raja, a tourist from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, could negatively impact tourists visiting a state.
Lyngdoh said the genesis of the government’s demand for apology sprang after a number of wild comments were made including incitement of violence against people originating from Meghalaya following the tragic incident at Sohra.
“The very next day the response was tremendous because a lot of major media houses including Times of India, Republic TV apart from private blockers have tendered their unqualified apology. So that met with our demand,” he stated.
Stating that the matter has ended, Lyngdoh said, “We have stated very clearly that unless you apologize we will file defamation suits and we have filed FIRs as well.
Now once they have taken their words back for instance the family of the deceased has also publicly apologized to the government and people of Meghalaya, the matter ends there.”
The tourism minister informed that the state already has a tourism app, which records all movement of tourists, including the cars or whatever mode of transport they used and compulsory registration of all visitors at various homestays, resorts and hotels.
“Now, the use of this app is roughly around 50% but we will now make it compulsory that all homestays, resorts, and other places of acommodation should register all visitors mandatorily,” he added.
The tourism department has already issued a notice calling for interested youth who are fluent in Khasi, Garo, English and Hindi to join the tourist buddy scheme and within the next two months, we should be able to clear appointment of hundreds of tourist buddies, the minister informed.