(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday attacked the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government, saying it had created scam after scam while his Bharatiya Janata Party was only for development.
He claimed that despite central funds, the northeastern state was not witnessing any development and that as per the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, Rs9bn remained unutilised in Meghalaya in the last six years.
Addressing a public rally at the Polo Ground here, Modi alleged that the alliance government of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in Meghalaya was not serving public interest but the mining mafia.
'I strongly feel that the people of Meghalaya deserve better governance. It is time the people pay back the Congress government for all its misgovernance, Modi said.
The prime minister visited Meghalaya and Mizoram yesterday to inaugurate a slew of developmental projects in the two north-eastern states.
'The BJP agenda is development, speedy development, and all-around development, the prime minister said.
'In order to bring about all-round development, the BJP will try to take Meghalaya to new heights. In the coming elections, people should elect a government that is ready to work and serve the people in the right earnest. We will work together to transform Meghalaya into a vibrant state, Modi said.
He said that Congress had ruled the state for 15 years but people in Shillong were yet to get safe drinking water. The Congress has succeeded only in creating scam after scam, he said.
Modi also took at dig at Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, a doctor-turned politician.
'The chief minister's knowledge of the health sector is far better than me. But unfortunately, healthcare facilities in Meghalaya are really in bad shape. There are health centres which do not have doctors and nurses. There is huge shortage of specialist doctors in state government hospitals, the prime minister claimed.
'There are many children in the state's rural areas where they are yet to be immunised and lack health centres, he added.
Modi said 70% of primary teachers in Meghalaya are 'untrained and claimed that wrong people were recruited due to which a shortage of 1,700 teachers in government lower primary schools exist.
The prime minister also criticised the state government for its alleged failure to complete the Rymbai-Bataw-Borkhat-Jalalpur road project sanctioned in 2011.
'The delay is because the state government did not submit a Utilisation Certificate on funds released by the Centre for the project, he said.
On the decision of villagers of Huroi to boycott the 2018 assembly elections, the prime minister questioned who provoked the residents of the village in a remote area to take such a drastic step.
Earlier speaking in Aizwal, Mizoram, the prime minister said the Centre is committed to putting all the state capitals of the northeast on the rail map and is executing 15 new projects in the region.
'We are committed to bringing all the state capitals of the northeast region on the rail map. The government of India is executing 15 new rail line projects of 1,385km length, at a cost of over Rs47,000 crore, Modi said.
'It is said that the lack of connectivity is one of the biggest hurdles in the path of development of the northeastern region, Modi said, adding: 'My government wants to do ‘transformation by transportation' through investment in infrastructure...
He said the Centre has been proactively following the ‘Act East Policy'. 'As a gate-way to South East Asia, Mizoram stands to gain immensely from this. It can emerge as a key transit point for trade with Myanmar and Bangladesh, said the prime minister.
The vision of New India can be realised only if fruits of development reach all, he said.
The Centre plans to focus on 115 districts which are relatively backward when evaluated on various indicators. This will benefit backward districts of northeastern states, including Mizoram, he said.
'In the spirit of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas every Indian, irrespective of caste, gender, religion, class must have equal opportunities to partake in the new prosperity, he added.
Modi was in Mizoram to inaugurate the 60MW Tuirial Hydro Electric Power Project (HEPP). He dedicated the project to the people saying it will boost the socio-economic development of the state.
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