By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 3: VPP chief Ardent Basaiawmoit on Monday expressed concern over the increasing debts of Meghalaya while apprehending that the central government might go for extraction of uranium mining as a repayment of the loans.
Referring to the MDA government’s ambitious idea of turning Meghalaya into a $10 billion economy by 2028, Basaiawmoit said he is skeptical about the whole idea considering the fact that Meghalaya is the third poorest state in India as per a 2023 report and even the unemployment rate here stands at 6 per cent which is much higher than the national average.
“Can we continue to avail loans? Our borrowing trend is increasing and we are already in a debt trap,” he said while asking the government to come clean on how much loan has been availed and how much is to be paid back.
Pointing out that Meghalaya is a non revenue generating state, he asked the government to explain how it is going to repay these loans.
“What will the state government do if the Centre asks us to repay the loan with extraction of uranium in the state,” he questioned?
