Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has appealed to the people of Manipur to maintain peace and harmony due to the ongoing unrest in the Northeastern state. Speaking at the opening of commonwealth parliamentary association meeting for the North East legislators today at Rilbong, Meghalaya he appealed for peace.
 
Om Birla inaugurated the 20th annual conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, India Region. The conference will deliberate on natural disasters and strategies for management with special reference to the northeast region.

The Lok Sabha speaker also said that in the process of development, we should not deviate from path of human values and ethics and it is the collective responsibility of all of us to protect our tradition, heritage and culture. He also spoke about Regional cooperation and connectivity through Act East policy as it will enhance regional integration at political, economic and social levels in North East.
 
Meanwhile, the Meghalaya government has made an official request to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to designate the Shillong Airport as an International Airport. During his address at the Conference, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said that the Shillong airport, with an average of 10,000 passengers per month, enjoys direct connectivity to major cities such as Delhi, Kolkata, Aizawl, Agartala, Imphal, Dimapur, Dibrugarh, and Guwahati.