Shillong: The Khasi Hills National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) wants the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) to kill all current work orders for trade check gates. The party demands the council start using open tenders to fix its broken contract process. They want fair play.
KHNAM working president Thomas Passah hit the council with a formal complaint on Monday. He presented the case to KHADC Chief Executive Member Winston Tony Lyngdoh. Passah claims the council keeps handing out lucrative work to private buddies without any public bidding. An RTI request filed in 2025 initially exposed that 10 gates were given away without a single tender notice. The council blamed a tight schedule back then, and KHNAM let it slide. They expected better luck later.
A fresh RTI filing this July blew the lid off the current situation. The Trade Department handed out 11 more gate contracts without inviting tenders. The affected locations include Mawshynrut, Athiabari, and Nongprut in West Khasi Hills, alongside Bangli and Borsora in South West Khasi Hills. Other gates include Mawiong Khri in Eastern West Khasi Hills, Umiam, Byrnihat, and Baridua in Ri-Bhoi, plus Majai and Mawryngkneng in East Khasi Hills. These deals went down between October 2025 and June 2026.
Passah said, "The council neither issued public notices nor floated tenders for the operation of the check gates despite a year having passed since the issue was first raised." He added that the rot goes deeper than just gates. He alleges that various supply and repair contracts get awarded to private hands without any competitive process. He wants the current Executive Committee to ditch these closed-door deals. He expects them to open the doors to indigenous bidders to clean up the council. Transparency is now the target.
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