SHILLONG: Legislators will not be part of the selection committee that will decide on the beneficiaries of the new housing scheme.
Housing Minister Zenith Sangma told reporters on Friday that distribution of aluminium sheets will be done after the scrutiny of the Selection and Monitoring Committee without any politicians being part of it.
To a question, Sangma said MLAs are vote seekers and there is a tendency of ignoring opponents who are not voting for them.
“We want to ensure that there is no discrimination while implementing the scheme,” he said.
According to Sangma, since the MLA scheme is Rs 2 crore per year, the legislators can implement their own schemes and hence they need not be part of the monitoring committee which decides on the beneficiaries of the housing scheme.
He said there have been demands from legislators that they should also be involved in the selection process.
He made it clear that the scheme would be launched before the Assembly polls.
“We hope to launch the scheme on a single day for the economically weaker section before the announcement of the Assembly polls and the applications are being submitted by the beneficiaries in this regard,” he said.
As per the scheme, the beneficiaries will get three bundles of aluminium sheets free of cost.
The cost of one bundle of aluminium sheet, which the government has to bear, is Rs 8,200.
