SHILLONG, MAR 6: Newly sworn in Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said that the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government will be able to face all the challenges of a coalition government and assured to work for the overall development of the state.
“With the kind of leaders we have in the government, I am confident that whatever challenges we have infront of us, this coalition government will be able to face those challenges,” Conrad told jouranlists after assuming office here on Tuesday.
He also assured there will be no small or big partner but all will be equal in the decision making that will lead to the reformation of the state.
Stating that there are lots of socio economic issues, he said that his government is and will be committed to the people of Meghalaya and will work sincerely to resolve all these problems.
He informed that he had a brief meeting with the chief secretary Y Tsering and other senior officials of the government on the fiscal health and the issues ahead of the government.
“We are having a lot of financial issues and it is a tough situation besides problems in the different sectors. We need to work sincerely and committedly in resolving these issues specially the financial issue,” he said.
Conrad said that his government will try to work not only with the ruling side, but also the opposition to ensure constructive contribution from all the leaders of all political parties and constituencies for the state.
Assuring that the MDA government will work for overall development of the state, he said, “We are not here to focus on region or area wise but we would like to focus on the overall state.”
“Any minister who is there or chief minister who is there, he has to realise that they are there for the entire state. We will ensure the ministers’ work keeping in mind that our state is a very diverse and we need to ensure inclusive growth and development takes place,” he added.
Asserting that governance needs to be improved in the state, he said that he had a strongly feeling that there has been lack of governance in the state in the past years.
“Having said that I am not here to blame anybody I don’t want to start blame games I am not here to find fault in the system I really want to find solutions to all the problems. Governance will be number one in our agenda,” he said.
“I want to work as a team with the officials or the cabinet and not to be autocratic in the system but work as a team and give our own contribution to finding solutions.”
According to him, all different schemes state and central, have to go through a system of governance.
“If the governance is good, policies are created, if implementation and mechanism are strong, if monitoring and accountability is done, if these three-four layers are strengthened I feel that even the current schemes, projects and programmes we have, we will have better production and productivity out of the current schemes and programmes,” he said.
Spelling out his other priorities, the chief minister said he would try to work and ensure that all financial resources that we have should be used in a maximum manner and minimum wastage.
“We will try to have as much austerity measures as possible because our state does have lack of financial resources and it is not easy for us to spend money on everything. There has to be some financial discipline which we will try to bring in the system,” he said.
Highlighting on the key areas, he said number one is our infrastructure apart from governance aspect, infrastructure is important for the government not only national highway but state highways as well as village roads.
“We need to find ways and means to strengthen the rural connectivity because our people lives and their livelihood is based on the villages. It is the duty of the government to ensure they find access especially farmers to the market,” he said.
He said that the government is also concern about electricity and will ensure villages not electrified should be brought into the grid adding the government will strive towards to ensuring drinking water supply to all.
Stating that education will also be one of the top priorities, Conrad said that he concern over the issues related to teachers who are backbone of the education system and that the government will strive to ensure some amicable solutions to the issues of teaching staffs.
“I strongly feel education is core believe to our party and the government and we will try to ensure we take education as a priority,” he said while stating that health is also critical sector where government will ensure proper medication is provided in most rural areas.
He said that it would difficult to say that the government will be able to resolve these issues in one shot. “It is a challenge for us and we are working towards resolving those issues and challenges. It is not easy to say will change everything in one year but will strive towards it,” he said.
He said the government is also keen to give priority to agriculture and tourism. Though the government has done its part in the tourism sector, he said, “But there has to be more focus approach on things and more effort towards spending the money in a more constructive manner where we will see real results coming out,” he said.
According to him, the tourism sector is really meant to give employment to the grassroot level. Therefore, there is need to allow the funds to flow whether taxi driver, or foodstall or guide, tourism sector needs to develop so that this money reaches our people at the grassroot level, he added.
By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours