SHILLONG: NPP legislator James Sangma has questioned the credibility of the Access Control System (ACS) installed in the Meghalaya Secretariat.
Moving a cut motion on the supplementary demands for grants and supplementary appropriation of Secretariat Administration department for additional amount of Rs.68,30,633, Sangma asserted that the ACS has received a lot of bad publicity and despite the installation of these equipments, dog stool was found inside the Secretariat and a computer set was stolen from the chamber of a Parliamentary Secretary inside the Secretariat.
Sangma questioned if the ACS was serving its purpose even as he said that the huge amounts have been spent for surveillance of ACS though CCTV cameras in the entry and exit points of the Secretariat.
“The money is hard earned tax payers’ money and it should not be wasted,” he said while asking the Government to justify the benefits of installing the attendance management system.
In his reply, Secretariat Administration Department Minister Deborah Marak asserted that the decision of the Government to install ACS in the Secretariat has served its purpose and that the SAD has also engaged 12 private security guards to assist the police in regulating entry and exits in the Secretariat.
“Security has improved after the installation of the ACS,” Marak said, while adding that the installation of CCTV cameras in the Secretariat helped in the recovery of the computer which was stolen from the Secretariat.
On Sangma’s statement about dog stool being found inside the Secretariat, she said that it was incorrect and added that everything appearing in news papers cannot be taken as gospel truth.
“I never issued any passes to dogs and cats,” she said amidst a burst of laughter in the Assembly.
She also informed that the CCTV cameras would be installed in different corridors of the Secretariat.
No need for MSCRC
NPP legislator James Sangma on Wednesday questioned the decision of the State Government to constitute the Meghalaya State Commission for Resource Mobilization (MSCRC).
“Meghalaya is the only State having such a Commission. In other States of the country, the job for mobilizing of resources is being done by the State Planning Board itself,” Sangma said while moving a cut motion in the Assembly here on Wednesday. He observed that there was no need to constitute such a Commission.
The NPP legislator also wanted to know details on the number of meetings which the Commission had held and also the recommendations it had made to the Government.