Development / Meghalaya

SHILLONG, Aug 23 ? Social activists in the North East are up in arms against the construction of mega dams in the region claiming it would bring ?untold suffering and land alienation among the indigenous poeple,? reports PTI. The Citizens Concern for Dams and Development (CCDD), a forum of people movements, NGOs, professional associations and leading citizens here said that the respective governments proposed to construct 168 large hydro-electric projects in the region and 28 of them were at the implementation stage and some others were also being developed.

Talking to media after its three...

SHILLONG, June 29 – The average level of using information technology (IT) tools in Meghalaya government’s various departments was ‘quite low’, a senior official said. Although some of the departments were doing a ‘better job’ in using IT, the ‘average level’ was still ‘quite low’, principal secretary of IT Department WMS Pariot said here while inaugurating a training programme for senior officers.

Urging the participants to use IT tools in their work in their respective offices, Pariot said this would not only help a department to speed up its routine activities on a day-to-day basis but...

SHILLONG, June 18: Meghalaya Government today said it had sanctioned establishment of a biofertiliser laboratory to promote organic farming in the State. Agriculture Minister K Susngi said in reply to a question of NCP’s JM Marak that the laboratory was developing a type of organic biofertiliser called ‘Azolla’ to give more nitrogen to the plants. “It is under trial stage,” he said.

The minister said the Azolla was being developed to produce more organic vegetables and to market those. In a separate question, the minister said the government had already earmarked in the budget a provision for...

GUWAHATI, June 24 – The State Government has teamed up with the Meghalaya Government to solve the problems of erosion and flash flood caused by the Basistha-Bahini river in the city. As a result, an inter-State committee with the officials of the Forest, Soil Conservation and Public Works Departments of the two States has been formed and the State Soil Conservation Department has been working on two projects involving the river in the city areas.

Disclosing these, J Malakar, Divisional Officer of the South Bank Soil Conservation Division, Guwahati told media men today that 80 per cent of the...

SHILLONG, June 17 – Meghalaya Government on Wednesday admitted in the Assembly that employees of the State Cooperative Marketing and Consumer Federation Ltd (Mecofed) were not getting salaries for the last seven months.

Cooperation Minister Charles Pyngrope said in reply to BJP member AL Hek’s question that the salary was not paid to them as there was a ‘huge difference’ between the monthly income and expenditure of the Mecofed. He said Mecofed was supposed to generate its own funds for paying salaries, but the huge gap between its income and expenditure was the reason of the backlog in...

SHILLONG, June 17 – The Social Welfare Department of Meghalaya failed to utilize 85 per cent to 100 per cent of the Central funds available under the National Programme for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in the State, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India placed in the State Assembly has pointed out. Despite the nominal budget allocation of eight per cent from 1998 to 2003 for implementing the People with Disability (PWD) Act, 1995, the department failed to utilize 55 per cent of the same, the report stated.

The CAG report observed that this showed the Social...

SHILLONG, June 13 – The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has rapped the Meghalaya AIDS Control Society for the latter’s “failure” to utilise 79-80 per cent of funds available during 2001-03, affecting implementation of national AIDS control project in the state, reports PTI. In its report for year ended March 31, 2003, the CAG said the NACP was fully funded by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) of the Centre to combat the onslaught of HIV/AIDS epidemic and funds were released by NACO directly to the society in a phased manner.

The CAG said the society’s non-utilisation of...

SHILLONG, June 11 – With a view to keeping the environment clean and avoiding confusion among manufacturers, sellers and users of plastic bags in the State, the Meghalaya Government has introduced an amendment to a relevant Bill banning all plastic bags below 40 micron in thickness.

‘Meghalaya Prohibition of Manufacturer, Sale, Use and Throwing of Low Density Plastic Bags Act 2001’ had attempted to ban such an act of low density plastic bags of below 20 micron which was desecrating the environment and posing serious health hazards. Urban Affairs Minister Friday Lyngdoh, who introduced an...

Shillong, June 10: Following in the footsteps of its Assam counterpart, the Meghalaya government has decided to rope in private operators to bring the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) back on track. Dubbing the corporation “a white elephant,” Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang told reporters that the cabinet approved the proposal to bring willing private transport operators under the banner of the MTC.

“Nearly 50 per cent of the current staff of the MTC opted for voluntary retirement with the government more than willing to offer the golden handshake,” Lapang said.

The Meghalaya...

SHILLONG, June 9 – Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) has claimed that land owners in Meghalaya’s Domiasiat area have given their consent for mining of the radioactive mineral, reports PTI.

“We have interacted with the land owners and they have given their consent in principle,” UCIL chairman and managing director R Gupta told reporters here on Sunday. The UCIL claim came in the backdrop of a visit by a high-level team comprising Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, Gupta and others to Domiasiat, about 150 km from here on Friday. Several social organisations in Shillong...