Party counters Conrad’s claim of state’s growth, says only drug trade has grown
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 25: The Congress on Monday countered Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma’s progress report by claiming that only the drug trade has grown in Meghalaya.
The Congress held Sangma responsible for every single drugs-related death in the state. Sangma had earlier claimed that Meghalaya is the second fastest growing state in the country after Tamil Nadu.
“The Chief Minister is trying to cover up corruption and leasing of land to big corporate houses where they are the beneficiaries,” AICC joint secretary in-charge of Meghalaya Mathew Antony claimed while talking to reporters in Shillong.
Referring to Sangma’s statement, he said the Chief Minister was possibly talking about the personal growth of the ministers.
“We know their salaries. How do they buy high-end cars? Most of them own big buildings and the source of the money is probably government contracts,” Antony said, slamming the state government for not being able to clear the salaries of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council employees for 43 months despite being the second fastest growing state in the country.
Criticising the state government for its failure to dismantle the drugs chain despite all its resources and so much of time, he said the Congress, at one point of time, ruled most states of the Northeast but the drug trafficking problem was never so big.
He asked why the state government is not using drones and digital scanners to fight the drugs menace. He accused the government of destroying families and youth of the state.
“The chief minister and the entire ruling government are responsible for every drugs-related death in the state,” Antony said.
Earlier, Tura MP Saleng A. Sangma alleged that 90 per cent of goods transported between India and Bangladesh passed through without being frisked as the scanners at the custom checkpoint remained dysfunctional for over three years.
Stating that drugs trafficked into the state increased many folds in last three years, he said, “If they really want to catch hold of the drugs mafia, they can do it within a week.” He slammed the state government for asking people to go for an HIV test before marriage after remaining quiet all these years and not doing anything to combat the situation.
Meanwhile, the Congress MP claimed that the government is mortgaging land, belonging to indigenous people, to avail of bank loans.
He slammed the government for allegedly leasing out huge chunks of land to private parties and also for deciding to operate the Tura Medical College on a public-private partnership mode.
He criticised the government for sending local youth to foreign countries without allegedly looking into their safety aspects. He said instead of giving jobs to local youth in the state, the government is bringing outsiders to fill in posts here.
“Look at the Secretariat. Does it look like a Meghalaya Secretariat or the Secretariat of Andhra Pradesh or Haryana?” he asked.
