CM Sangma says without agenda reservation policy is meaningless

Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said that the reservation policy is meaningless without implementing the roster, as his government informed the ruling coalition constituencies about the roster system.

The coalition partners of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government were given a presentation on the roster system at the Secretariat Yojana Bhavan in Shillong on Thursday.
A roster is an application specifying the reservation of posts in a cadre for various categories with respect to the applicable percentage of reservation.
“The policy of reservation without a roster is meaningless. We had made a complete offer on the roster with all alliance partners,” Sangma told reporters after the meeting.

He said that all the MLAs of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance are in the same boat and their concerns have been addressed.

“The whole concept of the roster system is complex in nature so they had a lot of questions. We tried to make it as clear as possible on our part. The purpose of the roster system is not to benefit any particular community but to implement the reservation system. To be sure,” said Sangma.
The Chief Minister said that the government will meet the leaders of all political parties on Friday to give a presentation on the roster adopted by the government.
The Chief Minister also made it clear that the government will not discuss the broader concept of job reservation policy for now and will try to resolve the roster system issue first.

Meanwhile, the opposition Voice of People’s Party (VPP), which has four MLAs, is demanding the government to amend the reservation policy. The party claimed that the existing policy needed to be revised as the population of Khasis comprising the sub-tribes – Jaintia, War, Bhois and Lyngngams people is higher.
The VPP asserted that the population of the Khasis is more than 1.6 lakh while the population of the Garos is less than 1 million.

“We want the government to address this injustice without denying anyone their rights,” said VPP president Ardent Basaiawmoit. The party had called a protest meeting near the secretariat here on Friday to pressurize the government.
A large number also participated in a protest organized by the party here on Wednesday.