CM leaves for Goa from Delhi
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma, who was in New Delhi to meet Planning Commission members on various issues related to the State, on Saturday left for Goa to attend the wedding of Luizinho Faleiro’s daughter on Sunday. Faleiro is AICC member and former general secretary in charge Meghalaya.
While in Delhi Dr Sangma also met AICC office bearers to brief them on party matters now that elections to the State Assembly are only 14 months away.
Speaking to The Shillong Times from Delhi on Saturday, Dr Sangma said he was in the national capital to follow up on the ADB loan for which the first tranche is to the tune of 100 million dollars. The ADB proposal has run into some temporary glitch on account of a non-plan component that has found place in the project.
However, the ADB officials have assured the Chief Minister that Meghalaya would be taken on board.
According to Dr Sangma the ADB loan would be utilised in the financial inclusion programme that is being envisaged for the State and also to give a major thrust to health care and insurance cover for the poor.
“The Government is very keen on upgrading health infrastructure in the rural areas of Meghalaya and make them equal to private hospitals in terms of equipment available and treatment given. Why should people from rural areas to come to the city for treatment at great cost? We aim to computerise all the data of patients so that his/her personal medical history is available at the click of a button,” Dr Sangma added.
He said that part of the ADB loan would also be deployed in the education sector. “We want better infrastructure for our village schools and want to bring them at par with the schools in the capital city of Shillong.”
The Chief Minister also said that Government was keen to create multi-facility community centres which would be neutral spaces where people of the village can have their meetings or discussions and partake in any other activity.
“What I saw in Switzerland are community centres with multi facilities such as a post office, bank and other public services under one roof. We would like to create similar facilities for our rural population so that they too have a place they can hold meetings and other activities without being obligated to anyone as the CCs belong to the community,” Dr Sangma said, adding that the Government to Citizen (G 2 C) services can also be administered by the CCs so that people do not need to go to a government office for transactions. This, Dr Sangma said, would bring government closer to the people.