NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma met three Union ministers in the national capital on Monday to discuss ways to fast track development and growth of Meghalaya.
Conrad first met DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh and sought his support for setting up a high-end food processing park in the state, besides apprising him of other development projects in the state.
“The agenda is to set up a high-end food processing park in Meghalaya and my engagement with the minister was on this. He has assured to give his best support to take the growth of Meghalaya forward,” a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office quoted Conrad as saying.
The North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme, a new central scheme under which the state government has submitted several proposals to be taken up in Meghalaya, was also discussed during the meeting.
The fully-funded scheme also supports creation of infrastructure in social sector like primary and secondary education and health.
“We have decided to hold a joint meeting with all officials concerned to take the proposed projects for Meghalaya forward,” said the chief minister.
The projects include solar streetlights in 1,800 villages and upgradation of several roads in different parts of the state.
Conrad informed Singh about the development works taken up for the National Games 2022. The CMO statement said the Union minister has assured full support and cooperation.
Tourism and rural development are other two sections which found prominence during the chief minister’s meetings with central ministers.
Luxury & destination tourism
During his meeting with Union Minister of State for Tourism (independent charge) KJ Alphons, Conrad expressed the state government’s keenness to give fillip to tourism projects and at the same encourage local entrepreneurship and spruce up farmers’ livelihood.
Alphons suggested that the state should leverage its rich potential by promoting luxury tourism.
“Meghalaya is a priority state for the Ministry of Tourism and we are going to extend all possible help. I would personally take up the issue of road connectivity in Meghalaya with the Union Transport Minister for his intervention,” Alphons said during the meeting.
Talking about developing infrastructure, Conrad, who was accompanied by state Tourism Minister Metbah Lyngdoh, particularly focused on Sohra, Umiam, Nokrek and Balpakram, the last two are eco-tourist sites.
“We have to build tourism around unique selling points (USPs) of the region and the government’s focus will be to balance tourism potential of the state in sync with creating avenues for the farming community as well as for youths to take entrepreneurial activities,” Conrad said.
Alphons said 12 locations have been identified in the North East, including Sohra, to promote destination tourism and caving would be the focus area. “We want to develop the cave network of Meghalaya and make it a major attraction for tourists,” he added.
The chief minister has been assured that the Centre would push for the pending projects.
Water woes
Conrad took up the issue of acute water crisis in the state during his meeting with Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and stressed the need for creating infrastructure, like check dams and water harvesting, to tap resources.
“We want to ensure that every village and household in Meghalaya have access to safe drinking water. The focus is to ensure that along all water sources, reservoirs are constructed, so that water can be made readily available to the people,” the chief minister said.
Tomar suggested that the chief minister should make an official visit to Himachal Pradesh and take cue from the water conservation and distribution models initiated by the Himalayan state.
The chief minister also sought for full support for the successful implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadhak Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana.
“We want to implement all central government schemes in the right earnest and ensure monitoring and accountability,” the chief minister said while informing Tomar about the initiative to seek monthly ground report on all projects and schemes from DCs of respective districts. Conrad also suggested that state ministers should visit different districts every three months and stay overnight and hold consultation with stakeholders.
