Thma U Rangli Juki has stood by information available through the RTI with regards to the functions of the Meghalaya Investment Promotion Authority (MIPA), stating that it is responsible for repurposing government land or redeveloping infrastructure in Shillong.
Reacting to a rejoinder issued to a section of the media by K Hynniewta, Ex-Officio Joint Secretary of the Planning, Investment Promotion, and Sustainable Development department, TUR said the statement is aimed at casting aspersions on it and the RTI process.
Hynniewta had said that MIPA was established with a well-defined mandate, including promoting the investment ecosystem, improving the ease of doing business, creating a Unified Investment Portal, and generating local employment in alignment with the state government’s vision. He said TUR made baseless allegations against MIPA with malafide intent as all information regarding MIPA’s functioning is available in the public domain.
TUR challenged that the information shared publicly are based on official documents including notesheets received through RTI.
“We wish to point to the fact that this is not the first time that Mr. Hynniewta is wilfully concealing information and wish to point out that even the State Information Commission had issued a warning to him during our appeal hearing,” TUR said.
The organisation said official documents issued from the letter head of MIPA and signed by Hynniewta indicated that MIPA is initiating and convening meetings regarding “repurposing” of land where departments are being summoned for meetings.
“Mr. Hynniewta continues to make mendacious statements that all of MIPAs functions are available in the public domain. This is false and misleading. The website has no disclosures whatsoever and MIPAs functioning is indeed opaque which prompted us to put this fact in our RTI first appeal application,” TUR said.
Stating that the press statement issued by Hynniewta is with malafide intention to undermine citizens efforts to use information received through the RTI to ensure transparency and accountability in governance.
