By Patricia Mukhim
Like the rest of the country Meghalaya too is trundling along the path of capitalism. What else do you call a governance where concessions are made for certain people in power to build what are called “city centres” which allow buildings to rise up to seven stories and which evidently are upcoming malls in Madanrting, Jingkieng Nongthymmai and Nongmynsong. Whether Shillong actually needs these many malls is debatable considering that Meghalaya’s populace is not getting richer but is slipping down the ladder of poverty. Some may wonder why I am harping on the same theme week after week. Someone has to keep reminding the Government that not all is hunky dory in the state and people in the rural outback and quite a few in urban Shillong are actually battling stark poverty which may not be visible to those sitting in the State Secretariat. The irony about this state is also that those in Government who take important decisions about our future don’t know what poverty is. They have never experienced what it is to miss a meal; not to have work; to have too many mouths to feed and not to afford to go to a hospital when they are ill.
There is a small population that lives a life of luxury and whose greed is insatiable. They hold the economic reins through overt means and do business with the Government. Their wealth ranking is equal to some of the rich elite of this country. And this coterie of business sharks have no empathy whatsoever of their own tribe. There is no visible philanthropy from their side. They have never been known to support even a single educational institution by providing funds to improve the infrastructure so that students don’t have to wade through water to enter their classrooms. This is a selfish category of people but they are also the most powerful lot that can change even Government decisions on what structures should be built in which place, never mind if that structure ultimately ends up a non-starter.
It is in this capitalist regime that one turns to the District Councils which are a gift of the Constitution makers to ensure that tribal land and resources are not bartered away to what is being touted as “economic development.” There is a limit to ‘how much of mining is too much’ and whether the environment of this vulnerable hill state can undo the damage of rapid deforestation for mining purposes, “because a few people need to keep mining to fill their coffers,” with little revenue accruing to the state and its people. The fact that coal is illegally mined and transported means so much of revenue going underground.
The problem is whether those elected to the District Councils are committed to implementing the Sixth Schedule in letter and spirit or whether they too are in the race to get rich quick like their seniors in the state legislature and the government. If we read the Recommendations of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution dated March 2002, it says inter alia that (a) subjects mentioned in the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution (relating to entrustment of powers, authorities and responsibilities of the panchayats) may be entrusted to the Autonomous District Councils functioning under the Sixth Schedule (b) The implementation of centrally funded projects should be entrusted to the Autonomous District Councils with strict audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) (3) Anti-defection law should be made applicable to all Sixth Schedule areas.
These recommendations are aimed at strengthening the District Councils but 23 years down the line nothing like that has happened and the Councillors too have never demanded that the recommendations of the Commission be implemented in letter and spirit. As of today the District Councils of Meghalaya operate on a shoe-string budget since most of the centrally sponsored schemes are implemented by the State Government. However, the Councils too are lacking in accountability. The Garo Hills District Council (GHDC) has not paid salaries to its staff for years together. But the question also arises as to whether the GHDC actually needs 2300 employees most of whom are political appointees.
The Jaintia Hills District Council (JHDC) has 1149 employees and has been facing problems in paying its staff. At last count there was a backlog of salary payment of seven months. It appears that the JHDC requires a substantial sum of Rs 8.45 crore monthly to pay staff salaries and pensions. But the book of accounts of the JHDC have been in a shambles. Only recently has the Comptroller and Auditor General released the audit reports of the JHDC for 2018 and 2019. We are now in 2025 so there are accounts pending for audit totalling 6 years in all. It shows that there are no attempts to hold itself accountable for the use of public funds. In 2005 the CAG report highlighted the unauthorised removal of Rs 5.49 crore from the JHDC’s cash book in October 2004. This discrepancy remains unrectified in subsequent cash books. Hence the annual accounts for 2017-18 lack accuracy and the CAG cannot certify that the accounts are in order until the money finds its way back into the cash book. What this means essentially is that the money was taken from the Council’s fund and never accounted for. So who has taken this public fund? Why was this not discussed during the election? How can such a huge amount (it may look like peanuts for the high level in government) just disappear? Can such an Institution therefore be entrusted to look after the interest of the tribals?
The CAG report further states that the JHDC constituted 10 Committees of which only 2 held any meetings while the rest never held any meetings or even submitted their reports. Despite this the JHDC spent Rs 8.47 crore towards various incentives for members of the Committees during the period from 2013-14 to 2017-18. What is worse is that the CAG found that the cash book from August 1,2009 to June 1, 2014 was not furnished to the audit team as it was not available. In June 2014 a cash book of the receipt cell was opened with ‘Nil’ balance. The CAG found this wrong and misleading since the Council had not reconciled the cash book and had not accounted for the Rs 5.49 crore that was unauthorisedly removed in October 2004. Hence this amount can be stated to have been stolen from the Council’s accounts without anyone being held accountable.
It is in these circumstances that one wonders whether the District Councils can rightly be called the custodians of tribal resources – land, forests, rivers, minerals et al. If the Councils (and this is just one example of a report that is examined by this writer; others too will have to be examined) are so profligate with public money then they may not hesitate to make deals to barter away our most precious resource – land- without any kind of benefit coming to the people of the state, but only a few people in the seat of power benefitting from these land deals. The JHDC has shown scant attention to the state of the rivers within its jurisdiction. The Kupli, Lukha and Lunar remain dead rivers but the JHDC just doesn’t care. Not once have we heard the JHDC call upon the central or the state government to help in reclaiming and sealing off the abandoned coal mines so that afforestation projects can take off to restore the environment. If this is the attitude of the District Councils and they are not fulfilling the mandate given to them vide the Sixth Schedule then is their continuation of any use to the citizenry? These issues require a public debate and should not be treated as ‘untouchable.’
The KHADC is not better. It has not shown any responsibility towards environment conservation and has allowed a free-for-all quarrying and mining without any efforts are eco-restoration.
In these troubled times when big corporates are casting their gaze at these hills as has happened in the District Council zones of Assam, one wonders if the Sixth Schedule is really an instrument that can safeguard tribal interests and if the Councils are instead vacillating on the much fought for mandate to conserve what belongs to the tribals, particularly land which is and has always been a much sought after resource. This becomes even more tenuous when the same political party runs the Councils and the State Government.
It’s time to hold the Councils accountable. It’s now or never!