Editor,
Once again the district councils are in the news again for all the wrong reasons. First they threatened to file a defamation suit for anyone questioning their functionality, authority and legal stand, and on the second they indulge in justifying the need to mop up resources through their toll tax gates.
If an RTI would be filed on the acts of omissions and commissions of the KHADC and JHADC, without an iota of doubt skeletons of all sizes and shapes would tumble out. The ADCs are accountable to the public who elect their MDCs to be their voice and platform for being an effective local governing body as mandated by the Constitution of India.
The incident that was shared and reported in most media outlets gravely show the modus operandi of collecting money from heavy commercial vehicles and the stink worse than your septic tank which is a disease in this so-called holier than thou state of Meghalaya.
The Government of India has time and again asked the autonomous district councils for accountability and every time they are found lacking. It is time the ADCs give themselves to public audit and publication of all financial assets within the council before they lose their sheen.
Dominic Stadlin Wankhar
Shillong
