The Meghalaya budget for 2022-23 has the highest allocation for the road sector at Rs 1,770 crore.
Of this, Rs 519 crore is for PMGSY road projects, Rs 220 crore specifically for the rural roads and the remaining will be for the various State road projects.
While presenting the budget in the Assembly today, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that his government has spent almost Rs 1,300 crore over the last four years for building rural roads.
“We are also spending about Rs 2,500 crore for building 26 major roads all over the State. These include the Mairang Rani Godown- Azra road, the Rongram-Phulbari hill road, the Dawki-Bholaganj road and the Pasyih-Garampani road. Most of these roads will be completed and dedicated to the people of the State by December 2022,” he said.
Sangma also informed that construction and expansion of additional critical roads with an investment of Rs 800 crore will be initiated in 2022-23.
These include the Jowai-Nartiang-Kdiap-Khanduli road, the Chokpot-Sibbari road, the Mawphlang-Mawsynram road, the Ummulong-Tyrshang-Bamkamar Road, the Anogre-Raksamgre road, the Umlyngka-Lawmei road and the Rongrenggre-Simsanggre- Nengkra road.
The health sector also got a massive allocation in the budget. Rs 1,617 crore has been allocated for the entire health sector, an increase of 28 per cent over the allocation in the current financial year.
The other allocations include Rs 467 crore for the power sector, Rs 208 crore for Sports and Youth Affairs (an increase of 13 per cent over the allocation during the current financial year), Rs 173 crore for tourism sector, Rs 120 crore for the IT sector (an increase of 31 percent over the allocation in the current financial year), Rs 101 crore for the transport sector in 2022-23 and Rs 100 crore for the upgradation of the police and law and order infrastructure for 2022- 23, Rs 100 crore for completion of the new Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang, Sangma informed that the State government has successfully completed one year of the implementation of the flagship FOCUS programme in which the government is providing a support of 5,000 to each and every farming household for undertaking agriculture related activities. He also said that about 82,000 farmers have already benefited from the programme.
“For 2022-23, we want to cover all the 4.5 lakh farming households in the State. I am allocating Rs 150 crore for 2022-23 to achieve this target,” he said.
Stating that the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) now covers about 4.5 lakh households, Sangma said the government has decided to allocate Rs 103 crore towards MHIS for 2022-23.
The government also allocated an amount of Rs 60 crore for the Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project.
To monitor the health condition of all the pregnant women in the State with specific focus on high-risk mothers, the State government has launched the Chief Minister Safe Motherhood Scheme and Rs 25 crore has been allocated for the implementation of this scheme in 2022-23.
For the IFAD funded Meghalaya – Livelihood and Access to Markets Project, the World Bank funded Community led Landscape Management Project, and the JICA funded Community-based Forest Management and Livelihood Improvement in Meghalaya, Sangma has allocated Rs 227 crore towards implementation of these projects in 2022-23.
For the all-comprehensive skilling program called the Skills Meghalaya to train one lakh youth in various skills for both wage and self employment in the local economy over the next five years.
The State government has allocated Rs 10 crore to cover 10,000 youth.
Other allocations include Rs 10 crore for providing interest subvention and strengthening financial inclusion, Rs 115 crore for Self Help Groups, Rs 63 crore for the textiles sector, Rs 52 crore for the Piggery and the Milk missions and Rs 10 crore for the new Ginger Mission.
