SHILLONG:
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, while addressing the people of the state on the occasion of the country’s 76th Independence Day at Polo Grounds on August 15, said that Meghalaya is emerging as a confident state where the citizens trust the government and vice versa.
“This is the new Meghalaya. A Meghalaya of pride, hope, ambition, and opportunities. A Meghalaya where the citizens have faith and trust in the government and a Meghalaya which is confident. We have painstakingly built this Meghalaya over the last four and half years,” he said.
Highlighting the achievements of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government in the last four-and-half-years, the Chief Minister said that he looks back at those years with “pride and satisfaction”.
“In these four-and-half-years, the state faced several challenges and overcame them. We survived the Covid-19 pandemic, successfully dealt with law-and-order issues and are resolving long-pending issues in the sectors of education, health, power, water supply and basic infrastructure,” he said.
Terming Meghalaya as the next “emerging” state in the country, Conrad said that the multilateral donors such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and organisations such as the IKEA Foundation and Amazon India are partnering with and investing in the state and its entrepreneurs. “This will empower our youth organisations to play a decisive role in making Meghalaya better,” he said.
He further said that he can confidently say that he has made the lives of -the state’s citizens better in the last four-and-half-years by creating the right ecosystem that enables and empowers people to solve problems.
“That’s what government’s do – they make people’s life better. For instance, our farmers need money during the planting and harvesting seasons and my government is giving them Rs 10,000 to every producer household under the FOCUS and FOCUS+ programmes. With this money, farmers are empowered to solve their problems through local decentralised action. We are also providing free seeds, setting up processing units and providing marketing support,” he said.
Conrad also said that he started the YESS Meghalaya programme to provide funding support of up to Rs 1 lakh to all youth organisations to help the youth channelise their energy and passion towards several community-based activities. “Today, our entrepreneurs get end-to-end support to build businesses and startups under the PRIME programme. Our youth are taught soft skills to improve their confidence through the ASPIRE programme,” he said.
Asserting that the health and economic well-being of women has been accorded the highest priority, the chief minister said that the IMR of Meghalaya has come down from 33 in 2018 to 29 in 2022.
“We are the amongst the top three states alongside Telangana and Kerala in child immunization. At least one woman in every rural household is part of a Self-Help Group and they are taking up various livelihood and enterprise related activities. We have recently enhanced the remuneration of ad-hoc teachers, streamlined the payments of incentives to ASHA workers, muster rolls and contractual employees,” he said, informing that Meghalaya was also ranked as the top performer alongside Gujarat and Karnataka in the National Startup Rankings for 2021.
Conrad further claimed that his government has built enabling infrastructure in the form of improved schools and hospital buildings, roads, and water supply schemes across the State. New sports, tourism and urban infrastructure are being constructed at a remarkable pace.
“I do not think any government in the past has been able to deliver at this scale in such a short span of time. I am proud to say that we are today, as a state, miles ahead of where we stood a few years back,” said Sangma.
The Chief Minister also added that Meghalaya is also amongst the best states in the implementation of programs such as MGNREGS, Jal Jeevan Mission and PMGSY. We are the second most improved State under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Earlier, Conrad hoisted the National Flag and took the Rashtriya Salute of 22 Parade Contingents at the Polo Ground, on Monday. During the event, the Chief also released a special cover to mark occasion in the presence of chief post master general, Northeast Circle, Subrat Das.
The Chief Minister also handed over prizes to the winners of the locality beautification and enhancement competition wherein Dorbar Shnong Nongrim Hills, Dorbar Shnong Mawlai Iewrynghep and Jail Road Welfare Committee bagged the first, second and third prizes, respectively.
The People’s Choice Best Locality Award on the basis of the highest number of votes online went to Dorbar Shnong Nongmensong, Dorbar Shnong Wahingdoh bagged the Best Street Art (Locality) award and the Best Street Art (Artist) went to Dorbar Shnong Laban.
The names for Police Medal for Meritorious Service to Lakador Syiem, Commandant, 6th Battalion Meghalaya Police, Umran Ri-Bhoi District; Bikram D Marak, Superintendent of Police, West Jaintia Hills; T C Chacko, Deputy Commandant, 4th MLP Battalion, Vikaspuri, Police Line, New Delhi and Galdinson R Marak, AB Inspector, Kote, Meghalaya, and Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation, 2022 to Meghalaya Deputy SP, Pyrkhatlang Suchiang were announced.
The other highlights of the day included, cultural programmes, presentation of Kayakalp Awards to Tura Civil Hospital, which bagged the award for Best District Hospital and Eco-friendly Health Facilities, Best Community Health Centre to Sohiong CHC, Best Primary Health Centre was bagged by Jongkha PHC and Health and Wellness Centre to Thynroit Sub Centre.