Shillong, June 1: Former chief executive member of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Adelbert Nongrum along with five others, today decided to temporarily suspend their indefinite hunger strike. However, their demand to implement the original KHADC (village administration) bill, 2014 has not been fulfilled.

Nongrum demanded that the village administration bill, in its original form, should be sent to the governor for his assent. But the KHADC under the Congress-led People's Democratic Forum (PDF) modified the original bill. The modified bill, which includes 23 amendments, was passed during the special session of the KHADC on Saturday. Nongrum, along with colleagues who joined the hunger strike, called on governor V. Shanmuganathan at the Raj Bhavan here today and demanded that Section 5 of paragraphs eight and 16 which have been deleted from the original bill be re-instated. The delegation told the governor that the two paragraphs deleted from Section 5 of the bill formed the core objectives of the bill which is to safeguard the identity of the indigenous people as conferred by the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

According to Nongrum, the governor assured them of to proper examination of the matter by exercising his wisdom.

When asked why he suspended the hunger strike though the demand has not been met, Nongrum said that he has decided to suspend the hunger strike, which he undertook since May 16, so that other course of action can be taken on the issue.

"Our mission has not been accomplished but our agitation was a meaningful one. Now we will go under one umbrella of All Regional Parties Alliance (ARPA) to various places to enlighten the people about the demerits of the modified bill," Nongrum said. He will need to undergo medical treatment first, since he has been fasting for about two weeks.