TURA, Jan 16: United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate from South Tura John Leslee K Sangma has asked Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to clarify the allegations levelled by Union MoS for Minority Affairs John Barla that FOCUS, a flagship programme of the government, was nothing but a nomenclature change to the Centre’s PM-Kisan scheme and that Rs 1,000 was missing from the money that was meant for the producers.
“John Barla, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, in his recent visit to Garo Hills, stated that the money, which is being distributed, was in fact the money sanctioned by the Union Government where the actual amount to be disbursed for each producer was actually Rs 6000,” stated Leslee.
It may be mentioned that Rs 5000 is provided to each producer group under the FOCUS scheme.
Leslee went on to say that if the allegations are true then the producers of Meghalaya have been swindled by the MDA government.
“Barla alleged that the government kept Rs 1,000 to buy votes during the election. This is a very serious allegation if it’s true. If we go by the statement of Conrad that the money earmarked for this flagship initiative is Rs 500 crore for 4.5 lakhs producers, then the money that will go missing is whopping Rs 45 crore. If it is true then the producers of Meghalaya have been swindled by the NPP led government,” he said.
Leslee also questioned how despite the enormity of the allegation, neither any statement has been made by the NPP chief nor has there been an attempt to initiate an inquiry into the matter.
“We are not sure who is at fault at this time. Whether the CM has lied about FOCUS and cheated the people or the MoS is falsely implicating the CM needs to be clarified by the CM. In such serious cases, defamation cases are filed but there is silence from the CM’s camp like there was in the case of AITC spokesperson, Saket Gokhale,” Leslee said, adding that only a statement from the chief minister or details of the central fund by the MoS could reveal the truth.
“If the MoS is aware of such anomalies, the BJP should initiate an inquiry into the scandal. Further, if the CM is innocent, there has to be something concrete that he provides that ridicules these allegations,” Leslee added.
Earlier, UDP vice president Allantry F Dkhar had also written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, complaining against misuse of the FOCUS and FOCUS + scheme by certain ministers and MLAs associated with the ruling National People’s Party.
