Editor,
A common man would rather react in awe at the amount of budget allocation in road infrastructure and healthcare in this current session of Meghalaya.
However, irrespective of what the amount of money projected and its utilisation is, it does not require a genius to calculate.
As far as the implementation of PMGSY is concerned it is an abrupt failure by the State Public Works Department to monitor the project effectively in the interior areas of the State. A case example is an incomplete PMGSY road that connects Nongsohphan village to Lyngkhat Tmar for a distance of 3 kms since the year of its sanction in 2016 till 2021. The project has been lying unfinished with the contractor one Friday Hinge who was allocated the work. This brings into question the role of the PWD sub divisional office at Pynursla and the head office in Shillong. A trip to this place would reveal the same.
Another important sector is healthcare and it has been known that certain Covid related expenses have been allocated to various CHCs and PHCs during the vaccination poll-mode campaign. Unfortunately, the funds in most cases have not been utilised in the right manner wherein healthcare workers have not been made aware of their TA, DA and other reimbursement related procedures. This demands an immediate public audit and also an investigation by the State authorities on the utilisation of the funds disbursed.
