SHILLONG, Nov 11 ? Is the Meghalaya Chief Minister DD Lapang being provided ?Z? category security cover ? A section of the media has gone to town with the story quoting senior State intelligence officials as their source but the authorities are noncommittal. When asked, Lapang said yesterday he had not got any formal communication from the Centre. ?But if they give it (the Z category) I will take it.?
Speculations over Lapang?s security cover became rife in the media in view of his threat perception following bomb blasts in Assam and other untoward incidents. The outburst of protest from a section of women activists against the constitution of State Commission for Women in a state-level NGOs? consultation meeting attended by Lapang, which took the administration by surprise, was also viewed to be one of the reasons.
Yet another cause cited was the farmers? and traders? protest against a government decision to shift a wholesale market to the outskirts of the capital town. The Chief Minister had sometime back urged the Centre to upgrade the status of the state to ?A? category for availing 100 per cent central funding in police modernisation schemes. In a representation to the Union Home Minister, Lapang had himself cited possible disturbances by ultras of neighbouring States and possibility of ultras taking shelter in Meghalaya to buttress his demand.