Minister in-charge of Border Areas Development (BAD), Lahkmen Rymbui said the state government of Meghalaya has requested the Centre to allow the state to implement the BAD schemes as was done in the previous years.
Rymbui said that the state government has expressed its reservation on the decision to change the guidelines for implementation of the BAD schemes.
He was replying to a query raised by Mawsynram legislator Himalaya M Shangpliang on the issue in the Assembly on Monday.
“We (have) requested the government of India to allow us to…continue with the previous practice but we are yet to get any reply from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA),” he said.
According to him, the state government has also requested the need to include more items of work to be taken under the BAD.
Earlier, the minister informed the House that the funds under BAD programme for the year 2020-21 have not been released by the government of India.
“All relevant documents have been submitted to the MHA BM (H). However, funds have not been released,” he said.
When Shangpliang expressed concern over the delay, Rymbui said that to the best of his knowledge the Centre has also not released to states in other parts of the country.
He however informed that 38 percent of the utilization certificates have been submitted to the ministry in December last year. The minister also assured that after the budget session is over, he would again meet the officials of the ministry on this issue.
NNN