Meghalaya not averse to setting up human rights commission

Shillong, Apr 20 (UNI) Meghalaya Planning Board Chairman Purno A Sangma today said the governmnet was not averse to constituting a human rights commission as was being done in other states.

''We are not averse to the idea of setting up State Human Rights Commission. The Meghalaya Progressive Alliance government will do its best to that,'' Mr Sangma said.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker said the government would also consult authorities concerned and Rights groups before establishing the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission.

In fact, the National Human Rights Commission has asked state governments to constitute state-level human rights commission to prevent human rights violations and provide an opportunity to people to redress problems.

However, only a few states responded postively to the NHRC's instructions. In the North Eastern states, only Assam and Manipur have set up their human rights commissions to address human rights violation.

The previous Congress government in Meghalaya, headed by Salseng C Marak, had suggested the Centre to set up a common Human Rights Commission for the North Eastern states due to lack of funds.

''At last, we are happy to hear that the government has decided to set up a State Human Rights Commission, which would benefit the downtrodden people,'' Meghalaya People's Human Rights Council Secretary General DDG Dympep said.

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