Meeting on MLA Scheme

SHILLONG: Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh will convene a meeting of the city legislators on Monday to discuss the MLA Scheme of Rs 2 crore per year.
The meeting comes in the wake of demands from legislators that guidelines for the scheme should be changed so that they can buy gifts like handbags and utensils instead of creating public assets.
West Shillong legislator Paul Lyngdoh, who is slated to attend the meeting, said on Sunday that there is a need to have a relook at the entire scheme and added that the schemes taken up should be accelerated since they are getting delayed to ‘red tape’ which often leads to cost and time overrun.
On the other hand, Nongthymmai legislator Jemino Mawthoh said he had not received any intimation for Monday’s meeting.
Incidentally, Mawthoh lamented that there is no clear cut delimitation of the urban and rural constituencies in the State and added, “We are getting Special Rural Works Programme (SRWP) instead of Special Urban Works Programme (SUWP) even though Nongthymmai is an urban area.”
He was also of the opinion that the MLA Scheme should focus on sewerage, basic needs like water and construction of play grounds etc.