The final day of the autumn session of the Assembly saw Chief Minister Conrad Sangma tear into the opposition, comparing his government’s performance with that of the Congress Party.
Replying to a short duration discussion on ‘the failure of governance in the state’ brought by the opposition, Sangma said that Meghalaya is spending more than Rs 1,300 crores on the rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) but five years back (under Congress rule) the state’s amount was not even Rs 600 crore.
On health indicators, the CM stated that eight out of 11 districts in the state did not witness a single maternal death in July. “We had a reduction of almost 30 percent in maternal deaths in the month of August compared to last year,” he added.
As an opposition party, Sangma also came down hard against the Congress for staging a walkout on Wednesday.
“Why didn’t you come back? Why did you waste the whole day and all that time? This is public money. Every day we spend lakhs of rupees to run this house. It is your responsibility, don’t blame us. I should say, isn’t this a failure of the opposition?” he said.
On the issue of the Inner Line Permit, the Chief Minister said that in 2013, Dr Mukul Sangma’s government did not want it but, now in opposition, the Congress is barking mad for it.
Sangma then turned to the border, which has been disputed in large areas with Assam for decades. The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance, he said, is the first government that has shown seriousness to resolve the differences between the two states.
The Congress, through Rangsakona MLA Zenith Sangma, attacked the government for its supposed blindness to illegal mining and transportation of coal. On this, the CM retorted that 301 cases, since the MDA came to power in 2018, have been registered against illegal mining.
Other Congress brickbats had to do with the re-emergence of militancy in Khasi-Jaintia Hills and illegal toll collection on highways by district councils. Dr Sangma, meanwhile, called on the government to convene a meeting of the state security commission.
