As in other sessions held in the past, the winter session of Jaiñtia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) which began today ended on the same day.
The session also passed the Jaiñtia Hills Autonomous District (Village and Town Development Council) Bill 2023 which was modified by the District Council Affairs Department.
This bill was earlier passed by the JHADC in the special session held on June 20. It aims at empowering the Dorbar Shnong to constitute Village Development Councils and Town Development Councils for implementation of developmental schemes sanctioned by the State government.
The bill also provides for an annual social audit of the works completed and appointment of a Public Information Officer (PIO) under the RTI Act. The JHADC would also appoint one of its officials as an appellate authority.
Earlier, during question hour, JHADC Executive Member (Education) Lakhon Dkhar informed that the council has 93 schools, 304 teachers and 4,317 students. He was replying to a question posed by opposition MDC Awhai Andrew Shullai.
To another query by Shullai on the non-release of salary to JHADC employees, Chief Executive Member Thombor Shiwat said that the pending salary would be released within this month.
Shiwat also said that the JHADC had taken up from time to time with the State government for clearance of the shares of the council in order to enable it to pay the staff salary and meet other requirements.
During the question hour, Executive Member Ailad Bhoi informed the House that 656 land holding certificates have been issued to land owners and an amount of Rs 11,34,595 was received by the council as fees from the same.
Members of the House also paid tributes to former MDC from Sutnga-Sumer constituency Tobias Manar who passed away on August 1.