Perennial thorn in the side of the state government, Tura MDC Bernard N Marak, has launched a campaign to judge whether Meghalaya has passed or failed in the implementation of central government schemes.
Marak, who is also the state BJP’s vice-president, has often criticised the state government for allegedly not ensuring that the state’s residents get full benefit of schemes of the central government, which is dominated by the BJP.
This campaign, Marak said, aims to make people aware of the central schemes and then get people to declare whether their implementation by the state government gets a pass or fail mark.
“This is interesting because people are made to believe that the Centre is choosy and only part payment is given, whereas the truth is [state] political leaders have manipulated and hijacked the schemes for the benefit of their party,” he claimed.
Marak said that the campaign aims to make the people aware of the schemes, their rights and in what manner the schemes are being implemented with proofs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced more than 200 schemes for the poor and the youths but most villagers are deprived of even basic facilities, the MDC stated.
“We were surveying the central schemes in Gambegre before the by-election and we found that schemes were politically manipulated,” Marak said. “False reports of incomplete projects were also submitted to the Centre by some departments. People, in general, are deprived of basic facilities, like water and housing.”
Provisions of toilets, roads, free rice, wages, schools and medical facilities were also delivered as per the vision of the PM, he added.