SHILLONG, MAY 1: The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) on Monday asserted the need to do away with the implementation of the MLA scheme in the state.

This came as a strong reaction to a statement made by Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong during an election campaign at Sohiong constituency that the “MLA scheme are meant to benefit only those voters/supporters who support the party/candidate during the election and that all 60 MLAs are doing the same”.

“His (Tynsong) statement has made it clear that the Rs 12.5 Cr of each MLA is a freebie used by politicians for political benefits which is against the guidelines of the Election Commission of India,” KHNAM vice president Thomas Passah said in a statement.

“Looking at the statement of Dy CM, it will be right to say that the MLA scheme should be done away with and all development work/activities should be channelized through the BDO, District Administration, in this way we can ensure better execution of work, timely completion and accountability. This will also ensure that businessmen are not attracted to politics for business purposes,” he added.

Passah reminded that the objective of MLA scheme is to create local need based infrastructure, to create assets of public utility and to remove regional imbalances in development and not to promote political interest as done in the State of Meghalaya.

He however said it is also seen that most of the MLA implement these Schemes funded at the cause of exchequers through a committee which is formed and headed by the MLA itself which allows them to manage corruption through this scheme.

“When we talk about MLA Scheme in Urban areas, we have seen that the success of its implementation is very low, wherein the same work is being done again and again because the quality of work is very low thereby wasting the public money. We have also seen the MLA mostly accumulate the 5 years amount for use one year before election, which clearly implies that they are using the scheme for political mileage,” he added.