SHILLONG: The United Democratic Party (UDP) on Wednesday asked the state government to provide details of the COVID-19 expenditure of Rs 399 crore.
“The government should not wait till audit and should come out clean on the COVID-19 expenditure,” said UDP president, Metbah Lyngdoh on Wednesday.
The Meghalaya Government had earlier claimed to have spent a whopping Rs 399 crore from March till September this year.
This however did not go down very well with individuals and NGOs alike with Thma U Rangli Juki (TUR), in a petition to the chief minister asking the government to be “transparent” and “accountable” with regard to the amount of Rs 399 crore reportedly spent on battling the pandemic.
Pointing out that the expenditure shown by the state government is relatively higher when compared to other states like Manipur, Lyngdoh said, “We have to look from the prospective of the number of cases also. I think the government will be in a better position by providing clarity”.
“I have already discussed the issue with the chief minister and they have the details,” he added.
‘MDA better than
previous alliances’
To a query on the UDP’s experience on being part of the MDA coalition, Lyngdoh said, “It is better than any other alliance in the past. The chief minister has been holding consultations regularly”.
Asked to choose the better coalition partner from the NPP and the Congress, Lyngdoh said, “We are comfortable working with both NPP and the Congress”.
“By comfortable it means that we have to look at the role of the government and how it functions,” he added.
To a query on the common public perception that the state government has not done enough in the two and a half years, Lyngdoh said, “Just one person saying so is no good. It is not the end of it and we have to get to the grass root”.
He admitted that the government has been facing fund constraints for the past seven to eight months affecting its functioning.
He, however, added that criticism was welcome as it would push the government to do more for the state and the people.