After the 14 NGOs under the Steering Committee Against Murder of Democracy (SCAMOD) rejected Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang call for a talk, the Committee’s call for a night road blockade on Monday and Tuesday followed by public curfew is a means to pressure the state government to remove DGP Anil Pradhan.

The night road blockade has been called from 7 pm to 5 am on Monday and Tuesday. The Khasi Students Union (KSU), the main constituent of the SCAMOD, has spurned Lapang’s invitation for talks and reiterated that it would go ahead with the agitation till it’s demands were fulfilled.

The night road blockade and the public curfew that will follow will affect normal life in four districts, West, East Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi and Jaintia Hills districts.

The district administration has imposed section 144 of the CrPC and is on the lookout of the SCAMOD leaders. However, all the leaders of the 14 NGOs have gone underground.

SCAMOD is demanding the removal of Pradhan on the basis of the administrative report indicting him of releasing a Congress leader Thomas Nongtdu who allegedly financed the Shillong district jail break. The Committee had called off an agitation planned earlier after Lapang said that the administrative committee report would be discussed in the cabinet before Pradhan’s removal.

However, the cabinet which met last week felt that the administrative report-set up by the state government to probe the jail break and the release of Nongtdu by the police, was inconclusive and it would wait for the judicial inquiry headed by a retired high court judge before taking any action against Pradhan.