SHILLONG, OCT 13: Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) chief Pynshngain N Syiem today assured the House to provide a report on the implementation of Rs 133.12 crore special assistance grant sanctioned by the Centre.
The assurance came after opposition members charged the ruling PDF-led EC of being partial in the distribution of the fund and misusing of the same to destroy the opposition political parties during a Zero Hour moved by Congress MDC Donevan Wanlang on the last day of the Session held here on Friday.
Wanlang while moving the motion had sought clarification with regards to information received through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 which revealed that Nongpoh received the highest share (3.13 crore) and Laban with the least (42 lakh) from the grant.
During the discussion on the matter, opposition UDP MDC from Umsning Donkupar Sumer questioned as to where has the balance amount of Rs 16 crore gone if Rs 3 crore has been distributed to all 29 MDCs and Rs 30 crore earmarked for the Council’s assets.
Sumer also alleged that the Rs 16 crore seems to have been kept aside as the party fund of People Democratic Front (PDF), a newly floated regional political party which at present is the single largest in the KHADC with 12 MDCs.
There was also a heated argument between Sumer and PDF MDC James Ban Basaiawmoit, who objected to the allegations made by the former.
In his reply, Syiem said, “I assured to provide a report on the implementation of the Rs 133.12 crore for the satisfaction of the members as the executive committee has tried its best to strike a balance unlike our counterparts in the GHADC and JHADC.”
Denying that there has been any misuse of the central grant, the KHADC chief further made it clear to the members not to misunderstood that the special assistance grant as the Special Rural Works Programme (SRWP), popularly known as the MLA scheme.
“We should not think that the special assistance scheme is like the SRWP scheme of the MLA and it is also not to be taken as MDC scheme but it is just development programme implemented by the MDCs,” he said.
Pouring cold water to the high expectation of the MDCs for getting equal share, Syiem said, “There is no guideline which says that MDC will get equal share.”
However, Congress leader of opposition Manstudy Nongrem slammed the KHADC chief executive member for misleading the people by changing his statement with regards to the distribution of the grant.
“The CEM had stated recently in the media that Rs 3 crore will be distributed to each MDC of the KHADC. Now the MDCs who are not getting Rs 3 crore will be blamed by the people of misusing the fund,” Nongrem said.
Earlier, UDP Nongpoh MDC Rona Khymdeit said that she cannot accepted that her constituency was allotted with highest share when her colleague in the party (Sumer) is saying that he was getting an extra amount of Rs 24 lakh besides Rs 3 crore.
She also urged the executive committee to provide a detailed report as to how much was spent from the special assistance grant in the distribution of the fund to each MDC and for the Council’s assets.
Khymdeit further demanded that the six MDCs who were newly elected during the last year’s bye-election which include NCP MDC Ricky Shullai, should also be given equal share from the Rs 133.12 crore.
By Our Reporter
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