SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said his government has suspended all new foreign travel proposals and cancelled his own overseas visits in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent austerity announcement.
Addressing concerns over official trips continuing despite the Prime Minister’s call, Sangma clarified that only programmes approved months earlier and cleared by the Centre were allowed to proceed.
“The programmes that had political as well as financial clearance before the Prime Minister’s announcement went ahead, because such trips take three to four months, sometimes six months, to prepare,” he told reporters.
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He said the teams currently abroad had left after all formalities were completed. “These were already in the pipeline. The process was done, bookings were made, expenditures were incurred, and political clearance was given by the Centre also,” Sangma said.
Since the Prime Minister’s announcement, however, the state has not approved any fresh requests.
“Post Prime Minister’s announcement, any new proposals for trips outside are not being entertained,” he said.
Sangma noted he had taken a firm stand on the issue even without a formal notification. “I had personally put on hold every single trip outside. I am very clear that we had to go as per the Prime Minister’s direction as this is in the larger interest of the nation,” he said. “I have stopped all foreign trips after the Prime Minister’s announcement.”
He added that trips cleared earlier were permitted only because the process was already finalised.
“The ones before that have been cleared, so those obviously went through. But after his announcement, any new proposal for any kind of foreign trip has been put on hold.”
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Detailing the preparations for the earlier trips, Sangma said they began well before the Prime Minister’s directive.
“It had been prepared for the last three to five months before the Prime Minister’s announcement. Bookings were made, political clearance was taken from the Government of India, and necessary arrangements with the concerned governments were made,” he said.
“After he gave the announcement and asked the states not to send delegations, we have not cleared anyone. I have received close to about 7–8 new proposals and all of them have been put on hold,” the Chief Minister said.