Shillong, Aug 25: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said he would personally review the State’s social audit system after opposition questioned its effectiveness.
The issue was raised during the question hour by VPP MLA Heavingstone Kharpran seeking details on audits under C&RD Department schemes.
C&RD Minister Sosthenes Sohtun said four schemes fall under social audit — Viksit Bharat-G RAM G, PMAY-G, NSAP and PMAGY.
The chief minister said 4,19,559 social audits have been conducted in eight years, including 69,524 in last year. In the last 3 years, 7,724 issues were reported, 724 resolved with action-taken reports uploaded.
Issues include job cards, muster roll irregularities and wage delays. Findings are sent to departments for action.
Sangma said Meghalaya goes beyond central requirements. Under Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017, audits have been extended to Food and Civil Supplies, Education, Urban Affairs, Fisheries, Power, PHE, MBMA and Health departments.
State budgets Rs 5 crore annually for audits from own resources, he said. 1,491 action-taken reports have been uploaded on MGNREGS MIS.
Kharpran asked how many financial irregularities were detected and what disciplinary action was taken.
When the minister could not give details, VPP chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said the minister was unprepared. Sohtun said details were not readily available and needed notice.
Sangma defended, saying audits now span multiple departments, so C&RD alone won’t have full data on action taken.
Leader of Opposition Dr Mukul Sangma said the 2017 Act was important for transparency but there is a gap between objective and implementation. Audits should be real-time, not post-mortem.
Conrad agreed the system needs periodic review, said objectives of the 2017 Act may not be fully achieved in some areas and assured personal review and course correction.
He said audits should enable immediate correction — like wage non-payment — not just identification after completion, comparing it to the CM Connect programme.
