By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Breaking his silence over the allegations levelled by a certain group from Laban constituency that he has misappropriated funds from the MLA scheme, former Mawprem legislator Manas Chaudhuri said he was the only MLA who returned funds that could not be used because of some constraints.
Speaking to the press on Monday, Chaudhuri asked the State Government to uphold its policies with special reference to the guidelines of the Directorate of Urban Affairs vis-à-vis the MLA schemes.
Referring to Para 2(1) of the Urban Affairs’ Guidelines which says, ‘all money given has to be used for creating public assets’, Chaudhuri said this money is being used for distributing private assets and pointed out that chairs, blankets, utensils distributed by the MLAs do not fall in the realm of public assets but are vote gathering tactics.
“It is the responsibility of the State Government to see that its policies are upheld. Unfortunately the same is violated and government departments allow themselves to be dictated to by some politically-minded people,” he said, adding that the government should change the policies if it is not ready to abide by them.
Distribution of items like blankets, buckets and the like are a violation of the guidelines as these are not public assets. “Public assets involve construction of public utilities and other developmental works which could benefit the public in the long run,” he added. “This culture of using the MLA funds for personal gain only should be shunned and the government should stop giving approval for the distribution of such items,” Chaudhuri said adding that this trend is only a political gimmick to garner votes from the people.
Highlighting the purpose of the Special Urban Works Programme (SUWP), the former MLA said that the critical component of this programme is to involve the local people in developmental activities. “But the ground reality is that the only people involved in this programme are the MLAs and the dealers,” he alleged.
Chaudhuri also asked the government to direct all the MLAs to give an account of the schemes being implemented and the money spent in the form of reports. He demanded that the Urban Affairs make all the MLA schemes public to ensure transparency and accountability. Chaudhuri said that in a State with 60 MLAs, each receiving Rs 1 crore per year, the amount when calculated in 5 years comes to Rs 300 crores. “If this Rs 300 crores is utilized properly, it could bring about a vast difference in the life of the common people but sadly, some MLAs in Meghalaya don’t work that way and this is when public life degenerates,” he observed.
“That is why a report card of the works done by each MLA in a year or two is very much needed in the State. At the same time, making them public for people’s knowledge is the need of the hour,” Chaudhuri asserted.