SHILLONG, DEC 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today accused the ruling Congress government here was favouring the mining mafias and is full of scams where money meant for school children and sugar for the common man is also being stolen.
“The Congress led government in the state was not for the people but belongs to the mining mafia,” Modi said while addressing at the BJP’s ‘rally for change’ held in the state capital here to kickstart the election campaign in poll-bound Meghalaya.
Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura will go to poll early next year as the tenure of their state assemblies ends by March 2018.
The Prime Minister, who did not mention on how to resolve the ongoing ban on coal mining by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), however said Meghalaya was underdeveloped despite having huge reserves of natural resources like coal, limestone and granite.
Stating that he could sense the wave for change, Modi said that 15 years of Congress rule has ruined Meghalaya.
Holding Chief Minister Mukul Sangma responsible for the sorry state of affairs in health sector, Prime Minister said, “The knowledge of the Meghalaya Chief Minister on the health sector is far better than me. But unfortunately the health care facilities in the State are really in bad shape. There are health care centre which does not have doctors and nurses. There is a huge shortage of specialist doctors in the government hospitals.”
“There have been scams after scams here under the Congress government,” he alleged and cited a CAG report that an amount os Rs 908 crore has been lying unutilised in the last 6 years in Meghalaya.
Tearing into the Congress government, Modi said, “Under the Congress rule here, money meant for providing food to the school children and sugar for the common man is also being stolen.”
“There are anomalies even in public distribution system. There is no drinking water in the state,” he said.
Stating that there are only scams in Meghalaya, the Prime Minister said “There was shortage of over 1700 teachers and 70 per cent of them are untrained. There are anomalies in even appointment of teachers. There is hardly any job opportunity for youths and youths are disillusioned here.”
The Prime Minister also reminded the gathering of the education scam which rocked the state, wherein a minister was alleged to be involved.
He also flagged the issue of lack of safety for women in the state.
Urging the people of the state to give their mandate in favour of the BJP, Modi said, “For BJP the only agenda is the development of Meghalaya, speedy and all round development.”
Modi also stated that other northeastern states like Assam and Manipur where there are BJP governments are marching towards the path of development.
The Prime Minister assured that a BJP government in Meghalaya would bring “a better life, security for women and children and employment for the youths.”
Referring to the Rymbai-Bataw-Borkhat-Jalalpur road project which was sanctioned way back in 2011, Modi said that the road should have been completed but till now it has not completed.
“The delay in the completion of the State is because the State Government has not been able to submit the Utilisation Certificate of the funds which was already released by the Centre for this road project,” he said.
While raising the issue on the decision of the villagers of Huroi village to boycott the upcoming 2018 Assembly elections, Prime Minister questioned who has provoked the villagers in the remote areas to take such a drastic steps.
“I strongly feel that the people of Meghalaya deserve better governance. It is not the responsibility of the State Government to provide a better life to the people of the State. Now, it is time for the people of the State to payback for all the mis-governance of the Congress Government in the State,” Modi stated.
With BJP winning in Assam, Modi said, “A wind of change has swept Eastern India. Now with BJP at the helm Manipur has become peaceful. People here now can venture in the evening and move out with family. Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal works late into the night clearing files.”
Recalling his address at the North Eastern Council meet last year here, Modi said, “After Morarji Desai, if any Prime Minister took part in a meeting of North-eastern council, it was me. Last year, I inaugurated the north eastern council meeting in Shillong.”
Taking a dig at the UPA regime, Modi said, “You are aware of the attitude of the previous governments towards northeast. To avoid delay in policies around northeast, a northeast council had been constituted in 1972. But that was not taken seriously.”
Earlier, the Prime Minister inaugurated a 261 km-long 2-Lane Shillong-Nongstoin section of NH 106 and Nongstoin- Rongjeng section of NH 127-B and said the road will serve as an east-west corridor.
“It will boost economic activity and establish a direct link between the important towns of the state – Shillong and Tura,” he said.
By Our Reporter
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