Shillong, Aug 8:The Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) has taken exception to comments by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma over who is really to blame for the current financial difficulties faced by the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
Staff of the council have accumulated salary arrears amounting to nearly four years with no end in sight to the financial difficulties. The employees are currently protesting against the council over their long overdue salaries.
In response, Conrad Sangma said that the mess in the GHADC’s finances was caused during the reign of the previous Congress Party government under former CM Dr Mukul Sangma (who is now part of the Trinamool Congress).
In a statement today, Timjim K Momin, president of the MPYC, said that it is typical of Conrad Sangma to shift the blame for what is wrong under his watch to the past, thereby “disowning” the state government’s responsibility.
“For years, the employees of the GHADC have faced unprecedented hardship, families struggling to pay school fees, medical treatment being delayed for lack of funds, homes running on credit from neighbours and shopkeepers. And yet, each time the issue is raised, the response from the highest office in the state is not a solution, but a speech,” Momin said.
He quoted a statement by the Executive Member in charge of Finance, saying that in 2015 (when Dr Mukul Sangma was CM), the GHADC salary dues stood at four months, amounting to Rs 15.2 crore. However, by 2021 (after three years of Conrad Sangma as CM), the dues had escalated to 32 months, crossing Rs 126 crore.
In 2022, even after years of “so-called reforms under the current regime”, the dues still stood at 26 months, totalling over Rs 102 crore.
“These are not allegations made by the opposition. They are official figures from your own government’s records,” he said to the CM, adding that if all of Conrad Sangma’s justifications are true then the problems should have disappeared by now.
Seven years is long enough for any government to correct past mistakes and “continuing to recycle excuses only shows an unwillingness to take ownership of the problem”, Momin added. Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) came to power in Meghalaya in 2018 and it is also in charge of the GHADC.
“Leadership is not about delivering well-rehearsed press briefings, it is about delivering results. It is about ensuring that the basic rights of employees, including their salaries, are protected without delay. A Chief Minister cannot claim credit when something goes right, yet disclaim all responsibility when something goes wrong,” Momin said. “Salaries are not charity, they are earned. And the more this government delays, the more it fails in its duty to its people.”
