SHILLONG: Congress fired another salvo at the ruling MDA government on Monday when Lok Sabha MP Vincent Pala slammed the conglomerate for its non-performance during the last two-and-half-years. He accused the NPP-led coalition of “not doing anything innovative so far”.
Speaking to media persons, Pala said that the government was almost halfway through its term but nothing innovative has been seen yet. “They are just following up on what the Central government has given them including flagship programmes,” he said.
Admitting that the main problem in the state is unemployment, Pala added that not even a single industry has come up in the state recently which could have provided employment opportunities to the youths of the state.
“Two and half years is still left and they can still do many things like resumption of coal mining which they had promised before the elections,” the Congress MP said while adding that nothing great is being seen as far as the implementation of Central schemes are concerned.
Pala stated that even the Megha Health Insurance Scheme was very popular but now there are many issues with it, adding that the government must pull up its socks and work harder than what it is doing now.
He also said that the MDA Government is more or less like Congress as many of its ministers are from the party itself.
When asked about the idea of providing employment to thousands of returnees, he said that they should be given employment but more important is the fact that there are many local unemployed youths in the state who should also be given employment as well.
Centre bankrupt
Reacting to a query about the Central assistance for the state in the fight against COVID-19, he said that the Centre itself is facing problem and they have gone bankrupt since they are not able to collect taxes now because of the COVID-19 situation.
“This month, they got Rs 82,000 crore as taxes and last month, they got Rs 5000 crore and normally if you get Rs 1 lakh crore a month as taxes, the Centre can do something,” he said.
Stating that the Central government has mismanaged the finances, he added that when the Centre is not able to survive for itself, how someone can expect the Centre to give assistance to the states in the fight against COVID-19.
“The state would have to fight and manage the situation on its own and they have to manage their resources judiciously” Pala said.
Earlier, Pala added that the COVID-19 situation in the country has led to economic crisis and the virus has not spared anybody.
He had words of appreciation for the health workers who are tackling the virus with limited resources in the state. The MP is hopeful that the situation would improve in the next 4-5 months as many companies and countries are now very close to developing a vaccine against the virus.
