TURA, Sep 8: The annual budget for the cash-strapped Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) placed by Chief Executive Member Benedic R Marak on Wednesday has been passed by the House and the figures are startling.
The budget for the financial year of the GHADC has been put at Rs 199.23 crore, a colossal figure for an autonomous council which has been facing a massive financial shortage for the past many years and having to depend on dole outs from the state and Centre. It is also a deficit budget by a little over forty-eight crores.
The massive figure projected for the Council by the CEM Benedic Marak and his team of Executive Members has raised many eyebrows. It has led to questions being asked from within members of the Council itself, including opposition Congress and also Tura BJP MDC Bernard Marak who termed the figure as “very high”.
The three-day budget session, which began on Monday with a condolence service for past members, has had only an hour each in both days set aside for question hour.
Some of the largest gainers of the budget happen to be its controversial Civil Works department with a gigantic figure of Rs 65.93 crore, Land and Revenue department (Rs 12.87 crore), General Administration Department (10.66 crore), the Forest department, which is witnessing a massive shrinking of the green cover, being allotted a enormous budget of over Rs 21 crore, and Agriculture department (16.18 crore) among others.
It is worth mentioning that the Civil Works department of the GHADC, which has received the largest share of budgetary allocation this time amounting to Rs 65.93 crore stands accused of alleged widespread misuse of the Rs 100-crore one-time central government assistance for developmental works issued to GHADC in 2015-16.
Opposition members have also questioned the allocation of substantial sums for departments that have seldom been found operational, such as the Agriculture, Tourism and Transport departments.
“The Transport department has been allotted Rs 2.84 crores when not a single vehicle is run or even maintained by it. All vehicles of MDCs and officers are repaired and maintained in workshops outside the district council,” pointed out an opposition MDC.
Then there is the District Council Printing Press which is yet to have its own printing machine. Almost all printing works were given to private operators for years altogether due to failure of successive council executive committees to restart the printing set up.
Despite the non-existence of its machinery, the Executive Committee headed by CEM Benedic R Marak has allocated Rs 2.63 crore for the Printing department.
The opposition has also ridiculed the preparation of the budget citing several flaws in the numbers.
“Besides being a deficit budget of over 48 crore rupees there were mistakes in calculation also. What was announced in the house and the figures quoted in print were not similar. It was not at all satisfactory. We have asked for rectification of the figures,” informed Congress MDC from Williamnagar Alphonsus R Marak.
The CEM Benedic Marak, in his budget speech, also announced that they are expecting government grants through different departments to the tune of Rs 60.25 crore as well as additional revenue of Rs 3 lakh from the share of license fees from the cotton growers association.
It remains to be seen how funds are generated and utilised by the GHADC which has in recent years been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
Tura MDC files plaint
Tura BJP MDC Bernard Marak has written to the Chairman of GHADC seeking a clarification as to why his questions during the budget session were not allowed to be raised and he was made to sit with the opposition side.
Tura MDC also demanded to know as to why the budget session was not allowed to be covered live by the media houses stating that, “The people of Garo Hills have every right to witness the proceedings of the house and be aware of what is happening in the house.”
Bernard Marak has been perturbed over the decision of the Chairman to conclude the budget session on Wednesday afternoon without allowing the questions put out on the question hour list to be asked.
New Dy Chairman
Teacher turned politician and elected to the Siju-Rongara Constituency of the GHADC, Albinush Marak, has become the new deputy Chairman of the council following his electoral victory against the opposition Congress candidate.
In a direct contest with the Congress MDC and candidate Rinaldo K Sangma of Rongrong, the NPP candidate secured 15 votes in his favour, while the Congress received 12. One vote was found to have been invalid.
With the election of Albinush Marak, the ruling NPP alliance now has both the coveted posts of Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the house.
