By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 5: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday strongly refuted news report of an alleged scam in tourism schemes in East Garo Hills saying that the concerned projects were either completed or delayed.
He took umbrage over the error in the figures and called it “irresponsible” reportage.
Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Paul, while also denying the claims of a scam in the eco tourism project in East Garo Hills, explained that the rural eco tourism circuit project in Garo Hills was sanctioned by the North Eastern Council (NEC) in 2017 for 12 projects, out of which 9 are in East Garo Hills, one in West Garo Hills and two in South West Garo Hills — all at a cost of Rs 14.39 crore.
According to him, each location consists of construction of traditional dwelling cottages with bedroom, common room, toilet, etc., amounting to Rs 9.91 lakh. Lyngdoh said that out of Rs 14.39 crore, a total of Rs 1,361.45 lakh has been paid to the respective contractors for the works that have been completed. He added that the works are in final stages of completion.
Defending the delay in the completion of the projects, the Tourism minister said that the main cause of delay are the challenges faced by the department for a difficult approach road to various sites, which was further compounded by monsoon season, bye-elections in East Garo Hills and even the lockdown.
The minister also defended the lack of amenities in different tourist sites, stating that a review meeting has been held on the existing sites where amenities are found lacking and the department will take course correction.
Informing that lot of proposals are being prepared to improve these sites, Lyngdoh added that the department will hold consultations with the stakeholders since many of these sites are not the property of the Tourism department and that the government only supports the local communities.
He, however, maintained that the department would like to take a course correction in this regard.
The government is also in touch with the Ministry of Tourism, with there being assurance of funding for tourism circuits.
The Meghalaya government is also exploring options through externally aided projects (EAPs) since the National Development Bank has become a partner in EAPs and an agreement has been signed.
Earlier, the chief minister, while denying the report of a scam in East Garo Hills tourism projects, had said, “The numbers were completely incorrect and the article is completely misleading. It is Rs 13-crore project. There were eight or nine locations where the particular infrastructure was meant to come up, this was the NEC-funded project in 2017 before the 2018 government came in.”
The CM scathingly said that it is easy to use the word “scam” when there is nothing actually. “It is a project whose one component of Rs 90 lakh has been completed. There are some components that are left. If not completed, the payment will not be made on those so we will definitely look into those aspects,” he said.
When pointed out that the report was based on RTI findings, he said, “I don’t know about the RTI findings but the amount is Rs 13 crore and not Rs 1,300 crores”.