CM for Act South policy with focus on B’desh

SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday stressed the need to leverage trade and tourism relations with Bangladesh and rooted for an Act South Policy, besides the Centre’s Act East Policy.
Speaking at the International Conference on the theme ‘Recent Advances in Educational Psychology’ organised by the Department of Education at North-Eastern Hill University here, Sangma said Meghalaya should look south as well since the state shares a long boundary with Bangladesh.
He put emphasis on a “good policy” to improve trade and tourism between the state and the neighbouring country.
Pointing out the challenges along the Indo-Bangla border, the chief minister said the boundary can also open up opportunities for Meghalaya as well as Bangladesh.
Challenges in edu sector
Besides improving the economic health of the state, Sangma said the new government has put education on the top of its priority list and is committed to providing quality education.
“The basic quality of education needs to go up,” he added.
Earlier, he said the sector is facing a lot of challenges like infrastructure as a lot of funds go into paying teachers. “Many primary schools in villages do not have buildings,” he observed.
Good governance
Focusing on governance, Sangma said implementation of schemes and projects is a major challenge and many programmes were not implemented in a way they should have been, adding that there was a need to strengthen the implementing agencies.
“Every rupee we spend must be productive and there should be accountability,” he said and pointed out that the government wanted to roll out good policies, besides developing infrastructure.