The Meghalaya government has declared a holiday on Saturday across all districts falling under the Shillong Parliamentary Constituency as a mark of respect to the late Shillong MP Dr Ricky Andrew J. Syngkon, who passed away on Thursday evening.
Announcing the decision during an obituary reference in the Assembly, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the government had decided to convert what was originally scheduled as a working day into a holiday within the entire parliamentary constituency.
He explained that the decision was taken to allow people to participate in the funeral, which is most likely to be held tomorrow, based on information received by the government. The Chief Minister said the late MP was not just the representative of Shillong or of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, but of the whole state, and therefore his passing was a loss for all of Meghalaya. He added that the vacuum created by Dr Syngkon’s untimely demise would be very difficult to fill.