Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday informed the assembly that the government would build new buildings or renovate existing buildings of all government-run schools from lower primary to higher secondary levels within 100 days.
Replying to a discussion on a motion, Sangma said that to achieve this goal the education department together with the involvement of different departments, deputy commissioners, and political parties, 1600 government schools would either get a new building or would be renovated.
The Chief Minister also informed that the government has identified these schools and categorized them into B and C categories based on the kind of infrastructure intervention they need.
He said this would be done on mission mode and these renovations and building of new structures would be completed within 100 days.
He further said that Meghalaya is a better performing state in implementing critical centrally sponsored schemes like MGNREGS through which Meghalaya has built 2100 km of rural road
in the past four and half years.
On average, 2.2 km of rural roads were built daily during this period at a total cost of Rs. 3800 crores through which 550 rural habitats were provided with road connectivity.
Replying to a short duration discussion on price rise, Sangma said, the price rise is due to global, national, and local and also includes climatic, farming patterns, logistics, and other factors.
The government is intervening wherever it is possible, but some factors such as the Ukraine war have led to a price rise in fuel.
“Meghalaya is a landlocked state is affected due to rise in transportation cost and subsequent landing price of products that are imported, he said.
The Chief Minister however added that Meghalaya has the lowest tax on fuel in India to arrest price rises. He said the government is taking various steps to bring down prices in the state.
Citing one example he said action has been taken against organizations that collect illegal taxes from businessmen in Garo Hills. After the government’s intervention prices have gone down almost by 50 percent.
Similarly, the government has asked the District Councils to remove illegal tool gates and many such have been removed. He further informed the House there is no GST imposed on fresh and frozen food items after some members raised concerns.
Moreover, the government is trying to have a self-sufficient model in the agriculture and animal husbandry sector to tackle price rises. Citing the example of pork consumption, he said annually the state consumes 1800 metric tons of pork and 50 percent is imported.
Sangma said under the piggery mission piglets are being distributed while artificial insemination of cattle is being done so that production of these animal products could be increased and the state becomes self-sufficient. Similar interventions are being undertaken in the agriculture and horticulture sector.
