SHILLONG, MAY 15: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday informed that the state government has formed a special committee to be headed by the chief secretary for reforming and improving the overall administration and financial health of the three autonomous district councils (ADCs).
Addressing media persons after a meeting with the three ADCs, Sangma said that the meeting has been convened to achieve three different objectives, to look into the overall administration and different rules, to improve the financial health and to clear all pending Bills passed by the three ADCs.
“A detailed discussion took place and we have formed a special committee, which will be headed by the chief secretary and the different district council officials will be members and whatever guidance and support that is required will be done to ensure that objective is met,” he said.
He said the committee will provide support and guidance to the district councils to ensure the different rules, financial or human resources or procurement policies are in place at different levels.
The CM said a special committee will also examine the aspect of bringing the much needed financial reformation in the three ADCs.
Sangma said, “We discussed the different financial situations faced by the ADCs including different manpower issues. For example, we saw the GHADC has close to 1500 employees and about 5 years back they had about 2500 employees and salaries exceedings to almost Rs 5 crore being paid on a monthly basis inspite of 1000 reduction taking place as in terms of rationalisation that took place in the GHADC. Similarly, the JHADC which has approximately 1200 – 1400 of employees and they are also facing similar hardships because of large manpower and KHADC which has less than 800 employees.”
The CM informed that the ADCs are also asked to engage experts to ensure overall revenue generation can be augmented and increased.
“At the same time the different assets that they have, the land and different buildings and how they could be monitored and maximised in terms of revenue generation for the ADCs and also to find other ways in which revenue can be raised,” he said.
“We also discussed about the overall capacity building of the manpower at the ADCs, we felt that the overall expertise and manpower that is there existing in the ADCs if we can find ways to train the manpower and improve the overall efficiency it would go into the benefits of the ADCs,” he added.
Meanwhile, the state government has also emphasized the need for three ADCs to document the different customary practices to preserve the rich culture and heritage of the three indigenous tribes of the state.