Health and Family Welfare Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh today sought to put to rest the allegations that the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance 1 government had been responsible for huge levels of corruption through the alleged misuse and misappropriation of Covid-19 funds.
In a clarification today, Lyngdoh, who was not a minister during MDA 1, said that during the height of the Covid pandemic, the central government had come up with an emergency Covid response package (ECRP) to support states in their efforts in fighting the disease.
She said that the package was sanctioned for Meghalaya in two phases through the National Health Mission – the first fully funded by the Centre and the second 90 per cent funded by the Centre, with the remainder to come from the state.
ECRP 1 was for 2020-21 and ECRP 2 for 2021-22.
The whole issue about the alleged discrepancy in funding came about after an activist noted that there was a difference in an answer provided by the then Health Minister to the Assembly and a reply from the department to a Right to Information (RTI) inquiry.
This was later taken up by North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum, who today also brought a zero hour notice, to which Lyngdoh responded.
On September 12, 2022 the then Health Minister, James PK Sangma, told the House that the amount spent on Covid-19 till date from the Centre was Rs 76.56 crore. However, the RTI figures showed Rs 119.73 crore (Rs 15.62 crore in ECRP 1 and Rs 104.12 crore in ECRP 2).
Lyngdoh explained today that the figure Sangma had quoted concerned the amount spent from the central and state governments on the fight against Covid.
However, the RTI query had asked for the amount sanctioned and that was Rs 104.12 crore.
“I would like to mention that the amount mentioned in the RTI is correct. However, the reply given during the then autumn session was about the money that was spent already. Various works sanctioned under the ECRP 2 are long term works, which are ongoing. Moreover, the sanction for one major component of the package is the critical care block amounting to Rs 21.38 crore, which was given much later than that of the other components,” the minister said. “The work has just begun for that and no financial progress has been made so far.”
Therefore, the amount that has been misunderstood as missing has not been spent and shall be released based on the physical progress of the sanction, Lyngdoh said.