TURA: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday launched a blistering attack on Congress candidate for the Tura Lok Sabha seat and former chief minister Mukul Sangma accusing him of pushing the state into financial ruin during his eight years in office.
In a series of meetings across the Garo Hills in the last few days the NPP chief said that sheer criminal negligence marked the regime of the former Congress government in the state.
“Why are we having frequent power cuts and load shedding in Garo Hills and the entire state? It is because for the last 8 years the Congress government took power from NEEPCO but did not pay. Our government is now having to clear the entire pending dues of Rs 550 crore and the public should know the truth,” said the chief minister at a public rally in Takamagre village of Rajabala constituency on Monday afternoon.
He also claimed that a number of schemes in the garb of ‘mission’ initiated by the last government turned out to be a white elephant in the making as crores of rupees were spent from the state without any results.
“They (Congress) started a ‘Rice mission’ and spent ten crores from the state. When we checked the scheme we found it never took off as there was no mission agenda, no targeted number of farmers or areas. In fact there was no document at all while the money was squandered away,” charged the chief minister.
The NPP chief did not spare his bête noire of other allegations as he gave detail after detail alleging widespread financial mismanagement by the previous government.
“Money amounting to Rs 150 crore meant for old age pensioners was not released for two-and-a-half years by Mukul Sangma government. It is only now that we have taken up the matter and trying to clear the pensioners’ dues. The benefits of thousands of ASHA health workers were held up for four long years, since 2014, amounting to Rs 50 crore. We have been able to sanction Rs five crore recently to clear some of the dues,” said the chief minister.
While appealing to the electorate to endorse his party and candidate Agatha Sangma for the Tura seat, the chief minister quipped that, “Meghalaya, particularly Garo Hills, has suffered much under eight years of Congress rule and it is time for change.”
