Department of Information and Public Relations

Press Release No. 087/05

PAID HOLIDAY ON FEBRUARY 23

The Government of Meghalaya has declared February 23, 2005 a paid holiday under the N.I. Act, 1881, being the polling day to the Bye-Elections for 21-Mawprem (Gen), 43-Songsak (ST) and 50-Salsella (ST) Assembly Constituencies to the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.

This notification is applicable to all public/private, commercial and industrial enterprise including shops and factories situated in the above constituencies to enable the voters to exercise their franchise.

Press Release No. 088/05

REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON NATIONAL URBAN OBSERVATORY HELD

A day long Regional Workshop on National Urban Observatory, jointly organised by Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India and Department of Urban Affairs, Government of Meghalaya was held today at the Conference Hall of Raitong Building, Shillong. The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. P.J. Bazeley, Chief Secretary, Government of Meghalaya.

In his inaugural speech, Mr. Bazeley expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Urban Development for its keen involvement in sensitizing the people of the region. He added that the pace of urban growth in the recent decades has been phenomenal which is also unplanned turning the city into a “virtual death trap”. Therefore he said that the need of the hour is “adequate planning” and the idea of setting up of a national level, state level and local level observatory would greatly benefit the government with readily available database informations. He hoped that the workshop comes up with fruitful deliberations.

Others who spoke on the occasion were Mr. J.M. Mauskar, Principal Secretary, Urban Affairs Department, Mr. K.T. Gurumukhi, Country Planner, TCPO, New Delhi and other resource persons from NESAC, IIT Kharagpur and others.