SHILLONG, Sep 15: The Opposition Congress on Wednesday cornered the government on the inadequacies in the Border Areas Development (BAD) department due to which the state has lost out on the sanction amount for border area development projects from the Ministry of Home Affairs despite getting the approval.
Congress legislator, Himalaya Shangpliang took on the Minister in-charge of BAD, Lahkmen Rymbui in a head-to-head exchange of words until the bell rang, coming in as a reprieve for the minister.
The exchange began with a question raised by Shangpliang on the total sanction received by the state government under BADP from the MHA for 2021-22, to which Rymbui replied, “The MHA has not sanctioned any amount to the state government for the year 2021.”
Countering the minister, Shangpliang said, “I don’t know whom to believe. Should I believe the reply of the Minister in-charge or should I believe the sanction order that I have got from the MHA?”
“The MHA has already released the sanction on May 13, 2021 but it is surprising that the minister is not aware of it or is he trying to mislead the House?” Shangpliang questioned.
In reply, the minister said it was not his intention to mislead the House or the member and claimed that the member had misread the approval letter. “Yes, scheme has been approved for 2021-22 for Rs 15.66 crore and that is only the approval. The sanction has not been released till date,” Rymbui said.
Not satisfied, Shangpliang questioned, “Why has this money not been released? There is a reason to it though the schemes have been approved. We missed the whole of 2020-2021. We never got one single project under the border area. This year again the Union Government just approved but not released. Why?”
Rymbui responded saying they had a meeting with the MHA in July requesting them to release the amount and they assured they would do so in due course of time. “I communicated with them last month also and they said that the reason is that there is some unspent balance in our account. During the last one-and-half year many projects were sanctioned but delayed due to COVID-19 and moreover Monsoon plays havoc in the border areas; so it is not possible to start work immediately and get the utilization certificate ready since the work has not been completed,” he added.
When Shangpliang wanted to know the amount of unspent balance, the minister replied that it was around 15 crore. Shangpliang came down heavily on the minister, claiming that the minister was not giving the correct answer since the amount as per the MHA documents was Rs 31.06 crore. He also said that he would print and give the paper to the minister.
Before Rymbui could respond, the bell rang marking the end of the question hour on Wednesday.
