Shillong, Dec 2: Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Tuesday hit back at MPCC president Vincent H. Pala’s remarks that the NPP-led government is pushing the state to financial ruin, stating that the Congress leader misunderstood basic financial figures.
Pala claimed that the NPP-led government is taking Meghalaya towards financial distress by availing numerous loans that amount to almost 28 per cent of state GDP.
Sangma said that Pala is attempting to misinform citizens. “I don’t know, maybe the MPCC president is not able to understand the different financial numbers that I’m explaining. I have repeated this again and again,” he said.
He stated that the Centre has strict mechanisms in place through the Ministry of Finance and the RBI to ensure that no state can borrow beyond permissible limits. Meghalaya, he claimed, is operating well within those limits.
Sangma added that Meghalaya’s growth story contradicts Pala’s claims, noting that almost 70 per cent of the funds used for development have come from the state’s own internal revenue. “Maximum growth and maximum expenditure have come from our own state revenue,” he asserted.
He also said that Pala misinterpreted World Bank, ADB and Externally Aided Project loans. Sangma said that such loans follow an 80/20 ratio, where the state government pays only 20 per cent upfront and the remaining 80 per cent comes as a loan. “Of that 80 per cent loan component, 90 per cent is actually a grant from the central government, leaving the state responsible for repaying only 10 per cent. If you look at the entire calculation, 72 per cent is repaid by the central government and only 28 per cent by the state government. So the question of this being financed through debt does not arise at all,” he said.
Sangma accused the Congress of attempting to attack the government’s growth record because it has no substantive counter. “They are seeing the growth and not finding any way to counter the growth that is taking place, and hence they are misleading the people,” he said.
