Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma has blazed a new trail by moving out of his office chamber to connect with ordinary people and listen to their woes. He visited Syntung village where strawberries flourish. Recently he visited the Pynursla region and touched base with the villagers who have nurtured the plethora of living roots bridges left behind by their forerunners as a legacy. Next he visited the border village of Tangmang which specialises in crafts and basketry. No Chief Minister in the past has made such personal contacts with the people, breaking away from the security cordon. The visit to Iewduh, Meghalaya’s oldest and biggest marketplace, over which the Syiem of Mylliem exercises claims and so too the Khasi Hills District Council, was providential. It gave the Chief Minister a firsthand account of how people have to wade through the slush and garbage during the rainy season since the rains came in torrents providentially.
These visits, while important, should lead to visible outcomes. The CM has assured the people of Iewduh that an additional sum of Rs 15 crore for the second phase of the project would include construction of new footpaths and proper drainage system. Earlier a sun of Rs 6 crore had been sanctioned for renovating internal footpaths. For the longest time Iewduh remained the domain of the Syiem of Mylliem who collects taxes from vendors but has never ploughed back anything towards improving the look of this market. It remained a shabby, dirty marketplace yet the most crowded since women in particular hold the belief that anything bought at Iewduh tends to last longer and is cheaper because it is also a wholesale market. Many a CEM has made a brouhaha about Iewduh promising to raise its stature but Iewduh remained where it is. Now that the CM has promised the people of Pynursla region some kind of assistance to better their livelihoods and improve tourism infrastructure, it is equally important that he forms a smart team of officials who will work out an implementation framework according to a definite timeline. If people don’t see things moving; they will despair and wonder at the enthusiasm that they had shown when the CM made those promises.
The smart follow-up team should list down clear expectations from the project; have a pragmatic timeline for project completion and make monitoring and evaluation a key driver of every project. They need to take the community into confidence. Not all projects will take off without hiccups. Those hiccups need to be addressed immediately and not left to fester. The smart team should report directly to the CM and brief him about challenges or roadblocks that may arise. Performance reviews are critical and the CM should set aside time to review the outcomes of every project. It is here that the CM can assess the performance of the team leader and take a call on delays. Gestation periods for all government projects are too long leading to time and cost overruns. This needs to change.
