From Our Correspondent
TURA: The opposition NCP in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) has condemned the action of the ruling Congress for having a short budget session, last week, terming it as deliberate to avoid embarrassment during the question hour.
NCP spokespersons Boston Marak and Denang T Sangma, both MDCs, issued a joint statement giving details about the manner in which the house was hurriedly adjourned.The opposition accused the ruling party of delaying tactics by handing over the house questions just five minutes before the house came to order even though they had submitted the list of questionnaire fifteen days ahead.
They alleged that question hour was taken up just one day in the entire session and the budget was presented and passed without any discussion. The opposition had sought an extended session due to the two day non cooperation movement called by the Tura Government College Students Union which led to a complete shutdown of Tura. While the ruling party refused to extend the budget session, it is further accused of failing to provide adequate security to the MDCs to attend the house during the agitational program.The opposition had planned to corner the treasury benches on a series of issues ranging from the purchase of second hand vehicles to utilization of central funds.
The opposition claims that the Purno K Sangma led Executive Committee in the district council had deliberately purchased an auctioned off vehicle for its forest department even though the full amount of Rs. 5 lacs had already been sanctioned.
The NCP MDCs had also questioned the legality of the council setting up new taxation check gates at several places in Garo Hills including Garobadha.
The district council maintains that the gates have been erected to check TNT licences and collect fines from those non-tribal vehicle owners who are using their vehicles for commercial purpose without valid documents.
Surprisingly, the district council has not received the approval of the Governor of Meghalaya for setting up of such gates.
The opposition benches have disapproved of the P K Sangma led Executive Committee’s alleged attempt to keep the entire session under wraps by refusing to invite the media to cover the all important budget session, as is mandatory in parliament, state assembly and other democratically elected bodies.