Meghalaya tribal chiefs urge govt to set up reg councils in

Garo tribal chiefs in Meghalaya today proposed the state government to consider constituting regional councils in all 80 'Laskar-Elakas' in the Garo hills region having over 1,400 indigenous chiefs in the proposed amendments to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
"We proposed constitution of a Regional Council in every Laskar-Elaka in line with the Garo Hills Districts (Constitution of Village Councils) Act 1958," Council of Nokma general secretary Charles G Momin told reporters here.
The tribal chiefs from Garo Hills had arrived yesterday in the state capital to attend the all party meeting to discuss issues related to the proposed amendment of Sixth Schedule, which was later postponed by the government.

According to Momin, the council had also proposed that each regional council should have a minimum of ten members, five of whom should be Nokmas nominated from among them and the other five should be elected members.
"These regional councils should be directly funded by the Centre to avoid red-tapism and for quick implementation of schemes at the grass root levels," the general secretary said.
The chairman of the Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya (GCCM) John F Kharshiing said the Council of Nokmas, were supporting the idea, but the GCCM was talking about having only one regional council in every autonomous district council (ADCs) in the state.

"The matter will have to be examined by the state government since Garo Hills have 80 Laskar Elakas, while in the Khasi Hills there are 54 Himas," he said, pointing out as per the Sixth Schedule, the regional council now would have only 30 members.

According to him, the autonomous district councils (ADCs) had never mentioned anything about the traditional institutions in their proposals submitted on the amendment of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Earlier in 2012, the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) led by its former chief executive member P N Syiem had constituted a sub committee, with representatives of the GCCM as its members, to examine the proposal for setting up of a regional council, Kharshiing said.

Meanwhile, the Council of Nokmas has also sought amendment of Article 3(g) of the Sixth Schedule in view of the absence of any legislative act to define the status of nokmas in the region.