Syiem slams budget

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG, MAR 20: Meghalaya Congress legislator, who is under suspension, Pynshngain N Syiem today lambasted the state government for presenting what he called as a “directionless”, “clueless” and “paralysed” budget.

Participating during the discussion on the Budget 2017-18 here, Syiem, who is also the chief in the KHADC, said he had observed that in the last four years, all budgets were repeated with no important steps to strengthen the state’s financial position.

“To conclude, this budget is directionless and clueless. It is a paralysed budget, like a person that needs to be taken to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for bringing back to normalcy,” he said.

He went on to add that it is not a financial speech as it focuses were only on some departments. He also pointed out that it was a “hopeless” budget.

Stating that the government has expressed optimism with regards to its revenue generation, Syiem wondered how the government can achieve this with the NGT ban on coal mining yet to be lifted besides court’s orders on liquor shops.

Also lambasting at the inefficiency of the Council of Ministers, he further urged the government to make the state a surplus state and not a deficit state.

“I am also sad to see there is no policy to protect the financial needs of the poor,” Syiem said adding that contractual and causal employees have also been terminated from their services.

However, he said that what more could one expect from the Council of Ministers who are constituency-centric rather than state-centric.