Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said that a reservation policy without implementing a roster is meaningless, as his government briefed the constituents of the ruling coalition about the roster system.
The alliance partners of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government on Thursday were given a presentation on the roster system at Secretariat Yojana Bhawan Shillong.
A roster is an application to determine the reservation of posts in a cadre for different categories with reference to the applicable percentage of reservations.
“A reservation policy without a roster is meaningless. We had a thorough presentation on the roster with all coalition partners,” Sangma told reporters after the meeting.
All MLAs in the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance are in the same boat and their concerns were addressed, he said.
“The entire concept of the roster system is complicated in nature so they had lots of queries. We tried to clarify as much as possible from our end. The roster system is not meant to benefit any particular community but to ensure implementation of the reservation system in letter and spirit,” Sangma said.
The chief minister said the government will meet leaders of all political parties on Friday to have a presentation on the roster adopted by the government.
The Chief Minister also made it clear that the government right now is not going to discuss the broader concept of the job reservation policy and would first try to resolve the issue of roster system.
Meanwhile, the opposition Voice of People’s Party (VPP) having four MLAs has been demanding that the government modify the reservation policy. The present policy needs a relook as the population of Khasis consisting of subtribes – Jaintias, Wars, Bhois and Lyngngams is higher than the Garo people, the party claimed.
The VPP asserted that the population of the Khasis is over 16 lakh while that of the Garos is less than 10 lakh.
“We want the government to address this injustice without denying anyone’s rights,” VPP president Ardent Basaiawmoit said. The party called for a protest meeting near the secretariat here on Friday to put pressure on the government.
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A sizable crowd had also participated in a protest organised by the party here on Wednesday.
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