The Meghalaya Government on Friday extended the present terms of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) for another six months.

Informing this, Deputy Chief Minister in-charge District Council Affairs (DCA) Prestone Tynsong said that the state government will send this recommendation to the Governor for approval and for issuing necessary orders on the same.

Tynsong said, "The Cabinet has approved the proposal for extension of the present term of both KHADC and JHADC for another six months. Now, the state government will send this recommendation to the Governor for approval and for accordingly issuing the necessary order on this.”

Tynsong said that last year, the Governor granted both the ADCs for the constitution of the delimitation committees, which are now on the job as per the prescribed guidelines. The delimitation committees have asked the executive committees of both KHADC and JHADC for an extension.

He further highlighted that th government will ask the two ADCs to submit a report on the delimitation after a few months after which the election process would be initiated.

Meanwhile, taking to platform 'X', Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangam said, "Cabinet today approved the proposal to extend the present terms of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Jaiñtia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) for a period of 6 months. Since the terms of both the Councils will be expired on 5th March 2024, the extension will be effective from that date."

Further, the cabinet also approved a new initiative, the ‘Meghalaya Program for Adolescent Wellbeing Empowerment and Resilience (MPoWER)’. Under the initiative, the Government has constituted an agency named ‘Human Development Council’ headed by the Chief Minister with the Chief Secretary as Chairman of the Project Steering Committee and the respective DCs as heads of the Executive Committees for implementation of the program, informed CM Sangma.