By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The schemes related to women’s empowerment and livestock mission may come under the scanner of the Election Commission and the district administration only if a complaint is lodged.
There were questions about the timing of the launch of these two schemes due to the upcoming polls.
East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner PS Dkhar said there were no official complaints from any quarters regarding the sanctioning of schemes.
Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor said the complaints, if any regarding any scheme, can be examined only after the announcement of polls.
Senior government official Sampath Kumar, who is dealing with the livestock mission, said though the scheme was designed long ago, its implementation is happening currently.
He reminded that after the issues related to ban on cow slaughter, the Assembly during its special session had passed a resolution and one of its highlights was on the livestock mission. He said as per the scheme, Rs 5,000 is provided to a family as seed money to take up livestock initiatives and 45,000 households had been identified in this regard. The money has been sanctioned and given to BDOs for distribution.
To a question, Kumar said there was no harm in consulting the MLAs as far as the livestock scheme is concerned.
Rs 5,000 also under women’s empowerment
Besides the livestock mission, the chief minister on January 5 launched the women’s empowerment scheme to provide financial aid to women in Shillong.
Launching the scheme in the city, Sangma had said 1.20 lakh families would be covered under the scheme.
During the function, a Congress ticket aspirant had said he had asked the chief minister to implement the scheme in different places of the state, including his own constituency, so that women can benefit from the scheme.
Seed money of Rs 5,000 was also handed over to the beneficiaries.
In a clarification, the chief minister had claimed that these schemes were old but as per government records, they were lunched recently contrary to the stand of the chief minister.