Opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) MLA for Mawlai, Brightstarwell Marbaniang, has claimed that he was not invited to a meeting of stakeholders convened by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department to review the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scheme in his constituency.
He said that the meeting, under the chairmanship of PHE Minister Marcuise Marak, consisted of Rangbah Shnongs of Nongkwar, Umthlong, Mawiong Umjapung and Mawiong Rim and local MDC Teiborlang Pathaw.
“This is something very unsavoury because I, as a local MLA, was not invited,” Marbaniang said, adding that he will complain to the minister on the matter.
He also said that there was a recent notification from the state government that stated that any schemes, whether state or central, being implemented in any constituency has to involve the local MLA, so, by ignoring him, the PHE Department is going against the government’s own order.
Meanwhile, the MLA cast doubt on the press statement that was issued after the meeting, wherein it was claimed that the implementation of the JJM scheme in Nongkwar Block 13, Mawiong Umjapung and Mawiong Rim are at an advanced stage.
Instead, Marbaniang said that his spot inspections of the areas, plus documentation he has, prove that the progress of the work is anywhere between 0 and 20 percent.
“I feel that the PHE Minister [and others] are playing politics even with schemes meant for the public by sidelining me,” he told reporters, adding that it was he who had raised the matter of JJM implementation in Mawlai in the first place.
