SHILLONG: NPP has hinted political motive on the part of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma for the delay by the State government in giving nod to the nominated member (Conrad Sangma) in the GHADC, even as the party criticized the government for the delay in increasing the strength of the Executive Council (EC) from the current 9 to 11 as suggested by the EC in line with the KHADC.
The party also pointed out that though an Executive Committee member Geora Marak was dropped from the GHADC and in his place the name of another MDC Dipul Marak was recommended in November last, the government is yet to respond.
During the news conference on Thursday, NPP legislator James Sangma and NPP president W. Kharlukhi pointed out political angle for the delay in clearing the proposals by the GHADC and added that the government was not following the democratic process of law. When asked whether the NPP will approach the Court for legal redress, party leader Conrad Sangma said he did not want to speak about his nomination to the GHADC and added that his sole aim now would be to strengthen the District Council.
Conrad pointed out financial mismanagement by the previous regime resulted in employees not getting salary for the last eight months.
According to Conrad, Rs 30 crore was released last year in advance for schemes for 2016-2017 by the GHADC, but the accounts are yet to be known.
Moreover, the share of motor vehicle registration for GHADC pending since 2010 is around Rs 20 crore and with the interest rate, the total amount would be Rs 25 crore. Another Rs 5 to 6 crore share is pending from the Taxation department.
Besides, the pending land revenue tax is Rs 10 crore, while the pending bills related to water tax is over Rs 3 crore, he informed.
Agar, basin programme to fail
The NPP leader said the Agar plantation drive and the basin development initiatives will fail due to the lack of follow up actions and ground level implementation.
“The basin development is a good concept, but there is hardly anything on the ground level,” Conrad claimed.
He also said that instead of Agar plantation, the State government should have promoted bamboo.
Guv to address GHADC
The NPP leader said Governor V. Shanmuganathan will address the GHADC sometime in April and for this, the employees themselves are ready to carry out cleaning work including painting of the buildings of the District Council.
“This will be a good gesture as employees themselves have volunteered to give a facelift to the Council,” Conrad added.
