MDA’s illegal acts visible to people just a tip of the iceberg: Mukul Sangma
TURA, Mar 27: Former Chief Minister of Meghalaya and present leader of the Opposition, Dr Mukul Sangma on Wednesday alleged that the present NPP led MDA government has failed at all frontiers of governance in the state. He pointed to the many illegalities allegedly being committed by the MDA government like corruption, illegal smuggling across the border as well as committing irregularities in implementation of various programmes.
Dr Sangma was addressing the media after the filing of nomination papers for the Lok Sabaha elections by his brother and former Minister Zenith Sangma.
Reacting to the question of Mediapersons, he claimed that the government had also failed to provide employment to the youths of the state as well as to resolve various contentious issues. Citing the situation prevailing in the GHADC, Mukul reminded that the people of the state are benefited by the provisions of the Sixth Schedule but when the GHADC is unable to pay the salaries of its employees, the state of governance can be well understood.
Reacting to Chief minister Conrad’s Sangma’s recent statement that the CAA would not have any impact in the state, Sangma said that once a person attains citizenship, he would be eligible to reside anywhere which in turn would affect the overall demography on not only Meghalaya but other neighboring states as well.
“One may apply for citizenship in a particular state where the Sixth schedule is not there but how are you going to prevent the movement of these people and eventual slow impact through migration. If you are a citizen the economy or other factors will compel you to move from one place to the other,” he said adding, not only Meghalaya but other neighbouring states like Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh etc will be affected.
He added, “Today there are many allegations pertaining to various illegal activities that are taking place across the Indo-Bangladesh border like smuggling of essential commodities as well as smuggling in of items like arecanut. Such a scale of smuggling cannot happen without the patronage of the people in authority. This can be supplemented by the fact that officers who were meant to respond to the allegations were transferred within 24 hours. These are proofs beyond a reasonable doubt about the patronage of those in power,” he maintained.
Pointing out that the illegal supply of arecanut from across the border has drastically impacted the overall income of farmers as well as the import duty on the produce resulting in loss of revenue to the state exchequer, Sangma sought necessary action as per law to be taken by the state and the union governments.
