Mawlong lauds own govt

SHILLONG, March 8: Chief minister E.K. Mawlong completed one year in office and celebrated this by releasing a list of his "achievements" at a press conference here today. Topping the list of achievements was the "improvement in peace in public life." This claim has been hard to swallow for many, including Mawlong's own coalition partner, the BJP, which had earlier demanded a white paper on the law and order situation. In response to queries from the Press, the Chief Minister admitted that the government was preparing a status paper on the law and order situation. The BJP had raised doubts about the veracity of the government's claims that the crime rate had gone down, while the public perception was that the number of persons being killed in violent incidents and kidnapped by unknown people was rising. Mawlong's list had some interesting "achievements." This included "a budgetary deficit of over Rs 361 crore, likely to be wiped out within the year," and "a global tender floated for preparation of DPR for the New Shillong township," which had newspersons wondering where the "achievements" lay. A particular gem of an achievement was the statement that the "state agrees to host the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF)." The government considered disbursement of Rs 75 crore as house building advance to its own employees as an achievement worth mentioning in the pamphlet, grandly titled "A Year of Achievements." But the pamphlet did not mention the Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum government or coalition members.