When Meghalaya Chief Secretary
WMS Pariat walks out
of the office of Chief Minister
Mukul Sangma at 10 pm in the State Secretariat,
it is nothing short of a statement
of his Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance
(MUA) coalition Government's
commitment to usher in development and
make "Meghalaya a model State."
For 46-year-old Sangma the "politics of development" is as important as the "politics of survival." Top bureaucrats, including the Chief Secretary, reflect the Chief Minister's "mission mode" as they go about charting the development path that Sangma had carefully laid down. Even when the Congress dissidents were busy plotting Sangma's downfall and flying every forthnight to meet party President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, the Chief Minister kept his focus and continued to brain-storm with his officers on the development possibilities that Meghalaya holds. During those heady days when his Chief Minister's chair was wobbly, Sangma rushed to Delhi only when he was summoned by the party High Command.
Sangma detractors who went fullthrottle to eject him from the Chief Minister's post gave a flimsy reason for his ouster. They claim that he refused to listen to his ministers. However, a top bureaucrat said, "The Chief Minister has little patience with ministers and officers who are slow in implementing the Government's developmental programmes and schemes."
Known to be passionate on ushering in development in the State, Sangma in an interview skirted the issue of internal bickering within the Congress and refused to speak about those who had ganged up against him. Excerpts:
Spending two hours with Bureaucracy Today, Sangma explained the roadmap for ushering in development and prosperity in Meghalaya. Just over a year since he became Chief Minister, the State Government is already moving in top gear implementing Sangma's pet project, "Integrated Basin Development & Livelihood Programme" (IBDLP). Sangma said, "You see I wanted to ensure that development is not lopsided so the rural areas figure prominently in my scheme of things for making Meghalaya a model State in the country by ushering in inclusive growth." Under the IBDLP five programmes have been put under the mission mode. These are: (a) Horticulture Mission, (b) Aqua Culture Mission, (c) Livestock Farming Mission, (d) Weaving & Sericulture Farming Mission and (e) State Tourism Mission. Ten more programmes will be added in the remaining two phases.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL
Sangma has handpicked the best officers with an excellent track record to implement the IBDLP which has been adopted as the flagship programme of his Government. He said, " I have an excellent team of officers who are working hard to get things rolling with special emphasis on rural development." Sangma's intention is to maximize benefits out of the potentialities that Meghalaya has in terms of natural and human resources. He said the Government would create multi-facet opportunities for all sections of society for sustaining livelihood activities with the resources that it has at its disposal. His intention is to make living in the rural areas attractive to people and reverse the uncontrolled migration to urban areas.
The government programmes are structured to ensure complete involvement of people, thereby "creating a wide spectrum for all categories of people like youths, women, farmers and marginal people" to ensure inclusive growth. Inclusive growth is being supplemented by addressing the issue of critical infrastructure gaps. It is meant to bring about complete value changes allowing the Government to address the issue of "backwardness and poverty."
MAJOR CHALLENGE
However, the major challenge that Sangma is now facing is that of neutralising the militant outfit, Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), which is creating havoc in the three districts of Garo Hills. He says fighting insurgency is not all about letting loose the gun-totting security forces against the militants but ushering in development and alleviating poverty.
Sangma said, "Tackling militancy is all about adopting a multi-pronged approach besides letting the security forces do their job in neutralizing and eradicating militancy." He said the Government must ensure that the youths do not feel attracted to militancy by providing them attractive livelihood options.
Getting a bit emotional Sangma said that "if you take a tour of the rural areas you will see poverty staring right up to you." He feels that building infrastructure like motorable roads and other things will bring about development in these places. He said, "Once the youths are fruitfully occupied, they will not feel the need to join militancy."
