Tura, Nov 22: Leader of the Opposition, Mukul Sangma has once again come down heavily on the reluctance of the present government in not filling up vacant posts asking where the money sanctioned for various posts in the state was going to.
During an interview taken a few days ago in the village of Rondupara under Phulbari in West Garo Hills (WGH), Mukul felt that the current situation beggars belief while raising many questions on the priorities of the government. He was replying to a question on why job vacancies in various departments were not being filled up despite the need for these to be taken up.
“The answer is best left to them but let me give you my analysis on the situation. During the Budget Session every year, various proposals are brought into the August House. Expenditure in the Budget contains 2 components: revenue and capital expenditure,” informed Mukul.
Revenue expenditure is meant to clear salaries, pensions and other overheads for all departments under the government.
“If a budget is being passed it means that money is there to clear all the overheads of every department, including the posts that are lying vacant. Sanctioned posts are the only thing taken into consideration when the budget is made. You do not look at how many posts are lying vacant but on sanctioned posts and money is budgeted this way,” he explained.
“Basically you have the mandate from the Assembly and you are projecting all your resources for expenditure and this has been passed. It is really inexplicable why the government has not ensured that these posts are filled up when the Budget has already given them the money to do so,” he added.
Mukul questioned as to where the money that is budgeted every year has gone.
“They cannot explain the non-fulfillment of such posts due to the lack of money as it has already been budgeted and passed. The money is already there. So where is this money going and where are the resources being spent. These are serious questions and show that the present MDA government may have some other priorities than the interest of the state and its people,” alleged Mukul.
He cited the example of the Home Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui, who earlier confessed that the police department was actually a victim of employee shortage.
“It is a crucial department and thousands of posts are lying vacant. There had been interviews for the department and physical exams more than 3 years ago but where are the results and why are these not being filled up despite the government budgeting for these posts,” asked Mukul.
The former CM stated that law and order was a problem in every state of the country and that was why they had set up a separate battalion (Special Force – 10) to counter the situation of militancy in the state that prevailed at the time.
“The idea was that this battalion would help in the time of extraordinary crisis in law and order and also counter militancy. A total of 1750 posts were sanctioned and filled up having understood the complexities associated with this part of the country,” stated Mukul.
Mukul said he was surprised and concerned due to the action of the government.
“They are shifting these elite forces to various DEFs in various districts and are crippling the entire police force. Just look at the audacity of this government that they are confessing before the public that the department is suffering due to a lack of manpower but will not recruit,” asserted Mukul.
He pointed to two PS’ in South Garo Hills, Nongalbibra and Jadi and asked how many policemen were employed there.
“They are not only depriving the people of the state who would have been able to fill up these vacancies but also making the state vulnerable. You have to remember that the recruitment process was initiated by this government for vacancies till 2018. Have the results come out? Have they recruited anyone? I believe they don’t want to spend the money for what it has been budgeted for,” he felt while adding that their party was going through the entire process to find out so that the same could be told to the people and those responsible could be acted upon.