If there is one sign of corruption, decay, delay and deception then the Hotel Crowborough in the heart of the city is a befitting model. Those in the opposition party are so engrossed with non-issues that they have no time to take stock of the real issues that are hurting the state of Meghalaya. Delay in the completion of most projects cost the Government dearly. Crowborough was conceived sometime in 1986 at a cost of Rs 13 crore. Today the project cost would have gone up by five times the amount. One of the bidders at the time when the Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) decided to outsource the entire project to private developers and hoteliers was a reputed Shillong-based Company owning a chain of hotels. This Company was not awarded the project because it did not want to do an underhand deal. Straight dealing does not work in Meghalaya. The circuitous route has always been the accepted mode.
It is now 27 years since the foundation stone for the Hotel was laid. Since the time of its construction by the MTDC the Hotel had landed itself in a soup. In 2000 an arbitration award of Rs 10 crore was taken by the contractors. It was a known fact that the person who headed the Hotel project since its inception is thoroughly corrupt. He was nearly always absent during the arbitration hearing in Delhi. And if he attended than he wasted the Corporation’s money in five star luxury hotels. Yet there was no action taken against the person for messing around with such a huge project and rendering it economically unviable in a State where the demand for five-star hotels is growing. The newly constructed hotel in Jail Road might be completed before the jinxed Crowborough. For civil society to fight corruption on a daily basis is too demanding. Beyond a time the people cannot possibly be hungry and also raise their voices. It is the CAG report which reveals all misdoing.