SHILLONG: The Chairman of Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) PN Syiem has stressed the need of strengthening the finance of the Council and is upbeat that the KHADC has never taken any loan unlike the state which is currently suffering huge debts.
Speaking at a function to inaugurate the additional building of the Executive Wing on Monday, he said that NEEPCO will have to get pending power dues from the state government and maintained that the Council will not come under any debt burden.
Pointing to a situation where the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) have not received their salaries for more than 20 months and 10 months respectively, Syiem said that the KHADC will have to be prepared for exigencies in order to survive in future.
According to him, for the KHADC to survive, there should be revenue generation from different sources.
He said that revenue from coal and minor minerals is not enough and added that it is time for the Council to get a share from the GST.
“We will write to the GST council on the matter”, he said.
Share from power sector
Syiem said that during the meeting with Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee Anand Sharma, he had stressed that the Council needs to have a share from the power sector which should not be less than 5 per cent.
He also pointed out that the share from coal should have been 40 per cent but it was “compromised” to 25 per cent which he described as “a blunder of the council”.
He observed that the KHADC should take the issue of strengthening the finance through revenue generation seriously as the district council will have to undertake different works such as setting up of district council courts.
Stating that the MDCs are elected for a term of 5 years, Syiem said that the onus to carry on the functions of the KHADC depends on the officers who should have a vision for the people and the Council.
As the issue of notifying the KHADC CEM still pending, he slammed the government and said that the only problem is favouritism by the government.
With the establishment of new building of the KHADC, he said there is a need to further improve the infrastructure of KHADC at a time when the indigenous community is faced with crisis such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
“District council is an important institution. The system has to be improved in all aspects”, he added.
