SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Congress MLA HM Shangpliang engaged in a heated debate on the issue of curtailing expenditures by the MDA Government during the one-day special session here on Tuesday.
The chief minister asserted that the government will come up with white papers on the performance of various departments in the last five years as this will give an idea as to how the departments can be further improved.
Moving a call attention on a news item published in The Shillong Times under the caption ‘Despite financial crunch, no steps to curtail spending’, Shangpliang attacked the state government for not curtailing expenditure while the government was also slammed for not getting any benefits out of the different festivals which are held in the state.
Shangpliang said the Finance Department had issued austerity measures but all such directives remain only in paper even as he criticised the government for making 65 political appointments, besides appointing 5-6 advisors, which is costing the state exchequer.
Terming the appointments as a waste of public money, he asked the chief minister to review the matter while castigating him and the Cabinet ministers for their foreign trips.
Earlier, the MLA from Mawsynram also questioned frequent visits by Union ministers to Shillong with nothing in their pockets.
Shangpliang also criticised the government for holding different festivals such as Cherry Blossom festival, autumn festival and asked about the number of foreign tourists who visited the state during these events.
“Moreover, everyone is going to Delhi in the name of meeting ministers to bring funds but how much funds have you brought,” he questioned.
Replying to the discussion, the chief minister hit back at Shangpliang saying the number of political appointees in the past was higher than those effected by the present government.
“The present government reduced the number of political appointees,” he said.
He also clarified that the state government never organised the autumn festival and it was organised by few entrepreneurs even as he added that the concerned MLA may find Cherry Blossom flower ugly now but he loved it a few years back when the festival was held.
Sangma also informed that he had asked all the revenue generating departments to increase their revenue by 30 percent and the departments have been asked to use best technology for achieving the target.
Defending the visits of state ministers to New Delhi, Sangma said the MDA Government had held continuous meetings with the Union government and this is the reason why the budgetary allocation for Meghalaya under Central Road Funds has been doubled while the allocation under PMGSY has been increased from Rs100-170 crore to Rs 500 crore.
