Paul on health benefits issue

SHILLONG, MAR 23: UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh said that Lad Mawreng residents have been denied the health benefits from a sub-centre for two decades because of the failure of the state government to strike a compromise with the landowner who had given the land for building the sub centre but later evicted the staff.

.Raising the issue on the floor of the assembly on Monday, Lyngdoh said, “This is reflective of the state of affair where even a plot of land takes so long due to the failure of the government to come up with some sort of compromise solution.”

Lyngdoh was reacting to the reply of the Meghalaya health minister AL Hek who had informed the house that the reasons behind the department’s failure to operationalize the Lad Mawreng sub-centre is because the landowner has occupied the building.

Lyngdoh brought to the notice of the house that the plot of land was given free of cost by a land owner to the health department since 1993 but later the staffs of the sub centre were evicted from the plot of land last year.

Hek, however, responded that the landowner had alleged that she was betrayed by the health department for not keeping the promise to reserve job for her children.

“During a meeting convened last year, I had also announced that if the land owner agrees, I will provide the appointment on that very day itself,” Hek said while informing the landowner had expressed her inability to agree to agree as she had to consult her family members first.- By Our Reporter