MEGHALAYA:
In a first, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on March 23, presented a Climate Action Budget with an allocation of Rs 3,412 crore for 2023-24, which corresponds to about 15 per cent of the state’s budget.
Addressing media persons after the assembly proceedings, Sangma said the idea of presenting the environment budget is to reflect and show that we invest back into the environment, while stressing the need to balance out both the economy and ecology.
He further stated that while environment preservation is important, livelihood of the people cannot be overlooked.
“We cannot say that we completely let go of all the economic activities because then people will not have employment but at the same time, we cannot allow complete exploitation of the resources. Both have to be balanced,” the chief minister said.
Earlier while presenting budget speech in the House, Sangma said Meghalaya’s ecology is fragile and the livelihoods of lakhs of people depend on nature.
“Accordingly, focussing on sustainability and building climate resilience are important components of the state’s growth strategy,” he read.