By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 12: Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council CEM, Winston Tony Lyngdoh, has hit back at State Congress president Vincent H. Pala over his recent allegations that the VPP-led Executive Committee (EC) has set up several gates functioning as “ATMs” to collect money for the party.
Addressing media persons on Wednesday, Lyngdoh dismissed the allegations as baseless and misleading, clarifying that the present EC has reduced the number of gates in operation from around 23-24 to about 10-11 since taking charge of the Council. “I have seen his statement where he claimed that ever since the VPP took over the KHADC, the gates have turned into our ATMs. That’s completely untrue. The media should ask him to clarify the basis of his allegations,” he said.
The KHADC chief maintained that the current EC has been actively working to address revenue-related challenges and to plug tax leakages that have cost the Council significantly.
“Only the necessary gates will continue to function, but we will not increase their number because the Council has been facing huge revenue losses due to tax leakages,” he asserted.
Lyngdoh further pointed out that the current administration more than halved the number of gates put up during the tenure of the previous EC to minimise misuse and improve transparency.
Earlier, Pala accused the state government and the KHADC of using multiple checkpoints to extort money from truckers and the public. He alleged that since the VPP assumed power in the KHADC, some 10 gates were added to the existing 24 or 25, leading to rampant corruption and harassment of drivers.
Pala claimed that a large number of checkpoints had sprung up along the Shillong and Jowai bypasses, some within 7 to 20 km of each other, turning these stretches into hotspots for illegal collections.
The MPCC chief also announced that Congress will soon file Right to Information applications to gather evidence of the alleged corruption, with plans to take the matter to court.
