By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 24: Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Friday clarified the expenditure of Rs 250 crore on the appointment of consultants in various government departments.
“The appointment of consultants is mandated by different ministries for the implementation of programmes like PMGSY and the Smart City Project. We are required to appoint consultants even for externally aided projects (EAPs). It is mandatory and not an option,” he told reporters here.
He said the government needs to appoint consultants for projects in all the departments, pointing out that the amount of Rs 250 crore is for a period of five years. The consultants are used according to the mandate of the central ministry concerned.
“The amount works out to Rs 50 crore a year. And if you divide it by 12, it comes to Rs 4 crore a month,” the Chief Minister said.
Rs 4 crore a month is just for the EAPs, he said.
“There are about 20 EAPs that are going on and it means for every project, we are spending approximately Rs 20 lakh per month by each department, which is reasonable,” Sangma said.
He said EAPs worth more than Rs 12,000 crore are being implemented in the state.
According to him, Rs 1,000 crore of the Smart City Project, Rs 3,000 crore of the PMGSY, and other EAPs worth Rs 16,000 crore are being implemented in one way or the other.
The projects are designed to allow 5% of the total cost to be utilised for consultancy services, Sangma said.
“The money is not provided from the government’s revenue and we do not touch the 5% that is part of the cost of a project,” he said.
