Shillong Mar 20: Congress MLA from Mawlai, P.T. Sawkmie on Tuesday sought to know from the state government the reason for the decrease in the allocation of fund for Meghalaya from the North Eastern Council (NEC).
Sawkmie raised this question in Asembly during question hour.
In his reply, chief minister Conrad K Sangma, while admitting that in some years there have been a dip in the allocation of fund to the state, said there were many reasons for this even as he pointed out that the NEC itself has got certain issues that they faced.
The Chief Minister however said that one of the reasons could be due to non completion of the schemes on time and it may also be linked to utilization certificates not being submitted on time.
The NEC budget during the year 2013-14 was Rs 700 crore, 2014-15 (Rs 578 crore), 2015-16 (Rs 773 crore), 2016-17 (Rs 795 crore) and 2017-18 (Rs 925 crore).
Sawkmie however pointed out that during 2014-15, Meghalaya got only Rs 3.95 crore for seven projects, which was very small amount.
Meanwhile the Chief Minister informed the House that schemes sanctioned by the NEC for Meghalaya include, 16 schemes with a total estimated cost of Rs 68.94 crore during 2013-14, seven schemes at an estimated cost of Rs 3.95 crore in 2014-15 and 11 schemes for Rs 36.40 crore in 2015-16.
