Editor,
Apropos of the report, “Six years on, Mawkhar Church refuses to act against defalcation,” I would like to sincerely commend the Shillong Times for their intense, taboo, but fact-based reporting. In a state where Christianity predominates, one seldom ever sees reports on church corruption.
The church was required to do an audit in 2017 as a result of receiving an income tax notice, and it was discovered that more than a crore was missing. In 2019, the church was once again required to conduct an audit, and this time, more than 2 crore was discovered to be missing. Isn’t this criminal negligence because the church might have saved nearly 3 crores had the treasurer publicised the 2017 incident? Another question that arises is whether the church respects the laws of the country to register and file financial returns annually. How can an institution ordained by God hideously avoid transparency? A more pertinent demand is the silent role of the auditors. How can a mere chowkidar embezzle 3.26 crores for 6 long years? How come the auditors couldn’t detect the fraud? Are the auditors Class 1 passed? Is the chowkidar a part time treasurer? If he is depositing weekly contributions then what is the appointed treasurer doing? Is he appointed only for foreign trips?
The fact that more than a crore went missing in 2017 was known after 2019, but when a member questioned the elders on November 23, 2019, the church committee blatantly denied the crime. On this day, churchgoers advised creating a financial committee, hiring an accountant, and starting an independent investigation. None of these proposals have been carried out to this day. In fact, a church that has annual expenses and collections running into crores of rupees needs a financial expert and not just a simple government accountant to manage its finances. Strangely, after 2017, the yearly church report never surfaced. The church’s financial situation was kept a secret from the members. Our tithes, hard earned donations, expenditures were not reported till date while the church committee continues collections and spending more than 2 crores buying a house at Mission Compound and other unknown (due to unavailability of the church annual report) expenditures. This is an abominable disgrace to the entire 10,000 church members.
The Sohmylleng Mission, which aims to disseminate the gospel and encourage conversion, is another controversy. The Mawkhar Church continued to build a massive school and other mission projects that have cost crores of rupees from the beginning to the present even though it was discovered within years that the entire population of the area were Roman Catholics. It was started in 2012 with the assumption that the village was populated by non-Christians. Disgustingly, the secretary of the mission has not given any financial information on the enormous sums that have been incurred over the course of 12 years. It is plain to see that the church is making money off the people’ laborious efforts.
Prior to 2012, the Mawkhar Presbyterian Church was led by men of integrity and reputation, but it now appears that they are being led by those who would sell their souls to further their own interests. This is demonstrated by the wage gap between the pastors, where the committee is showing favouritism.
I unwillingly prepared this post since the church committee wouldn’t entertain or listen to regular churchgoers. Our voices can only be heard and justice can be served through the media.
Yours etc.,
M.L. Mawphlang,
Via email
Water harvesting is imperative
Editor,
I’m writing this letter out of pure concern. I have lived in Shillong my entire life and this is the second year when I am experiencing immense heat in the middle of the year at a time when it should be raining cats and dogs. I was standing on my balcony and I realized that we have not experienced the rain we used to experience when I was around 4 or 5 years old. The rain that used to drown us, fill our drains and tanks with water; the rain that made it impossible to go to school; the rain that made it impossible to see beyond our noses because it was so heavy, is no longer visible today.
We live in the rainiest place on earth and yet we have no water to distribute and to generate electricity. When will people see that if we choose to do rainwater harvesting it will not only solve our water and electricity crisis but help the environment heal, the water table to restore its water content, and help reduce the corruption of water and light to a minimum.
Despite knowing the risks people get greedy and instead of planting trees in their compounds they chop the trees down so that they can build parking spaces which are made out of concrete which increases the heat and chases away the rain-bearing clouds. If there are no trees there will be no rain hence no electricity and no water. That means we have to buy water and suffer without electricity. Are people that foolish and greedy? Can they not see how it affects us and how much money we are losing paying for basic needs that a society needs to function at its proper capacity?
Instead of wasting money and complaining about the government all the time why don’t we start rainwater harvesting? It will solve our problems in the blink of an eye. Rainwater harvesting started around 300 BC with little technology so why are we just sitting around? Why can’t we start with the technology we have now in our modern age? we can actually solve water and electricity problems; all we need are people who understand how important this is. A few rainwater gutters and water tanks, planting more trees, and preserving the forest cover as much as we can, would address so much of our water shortage. Instead of depending on our so-called government which is actually the reason why there is deforestation and large scale, unregulated quarrying, we should be taking action wherever we are. Let us start now!
Yours etc.,
Shailin H Lyngdoh.
Shillong-3