VPP slams govt for announcing schemes, spending crores without positive impact

SHILLONG, June 22: In a sharp critique of what it called a culture of “announcement without accountability”, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) has questioned the Meghalaya government’s performance across spheres, challenging it to produce results rather than announcing schemes and flaunting data.
VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh said people of the state must stop being swayed by headline-making announcements and start asking pointed questions about their impact.
“The government rolls out schemes and declares crores in spending, but the real question is: what’s the outcome?” he said.
He pointed to glaring contradictions between claims made by the government and ground realities, especially in key sectors like education and healthcare.
“The government says they have done this and that for education, but the Performance Grading Index (PGI) has placed Meghalaya at the bottom. So where is the impact?” he argued.
Myrboh pointed out that measuring success by the number of schemes launched or funds allocated is misleading. “It’s like planting trees—you don’t count success by how many saplings you planted, but by how many trees survived and are thriving. Governance should be about outcome, not schemes.”
He further questioned the benefits of much-publicised schemes like FOCUS and FOCUS+, launched in 2023. “What has changed on the ground? Has per capita income improved? Have BPL families been lifted out of poverty? Has access to healthcare become a reality for all?”
The VPP maintained that without accountability mechanisms, even well-funded programmes remain hollow promises.
“There needs to be a report card. You can’t just throw money left, right, and centre without showing results. Governance is not a game of statistics—it’s about real impact on real people,” Myrboh asserted.
The party’s remarks come at a time when the state government has been on an announcement spree, unveiling new schemes and claiming development milestones.
But the VPP’s message is clear: without proof of benefit to the common citizen, the government’s numbers are just noise.