Govt wants to make Meghalaya a den of gambling: LO

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 21, 2022

Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma on Saturday appealed to the people of the state to dethrone the Conrad K Sangma-led MDA government in 2023.

“2023 is crucial. Let us be part of this great story where we all come together and…be able to embark upon a new story. We will rebuild the state where Meghalaya will have enough opportunities for our youths. We will rebuild the state as a destination for education and hospitality, which is the most inclusive sector to provide sustainable opportunities,” Sangma said while addressing at the launching of the membership drive at Pynthorumkhrah.  

Stating that the present state government wants to defame Meghalaya, the former chief minister said they (MDA government) are not even scared of God as they want to make Meghalaya a den of gambling.

“Do you want to be known as people who belongs to a state which is a destination for gambling, a destination for all sinful acts? We don’t want our state to be known as a destination for all the vices. We want Meghalaya to be a destination consistent with the name and fame of our state, destination for education, destination of hospitality sector,” he said.

“God has blessed our state with abundance of resources, abundance of natural products. Who doesn’t know about Cherrapunjee and because people across the world know the name Cherrapunjee and Sohra, Meghalaya becomes a natural destination if you know how to leverage upon this strength,” he said.

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He further slammed the MDA government for derailing the various projects that include medical colleges, professional colleges and others.  

“Why is that engineering college in Mawlai still not open, not established – all these are deprivation of our people. Therefore, friends no longer will we be silent spectators and silent majority as the majority are affected and therefore please come together,” Sangma said.

He further questioned as to where all the money has gone which is meant to benefit the old and infirms in the form of old age pension, the single mothers and assistance for marriage of orphan children.

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“What happen to the initiatives embarked upon, the money of the Asian Development Bank in the name of human capital development besides building the infrastructure and smart classroom we have money for free trainings of the teachers, today all our teachers who want to be teachers they have to spend lakhs of rupees, hundreds and thousands of rupees for pursuing their teachers training programme. Ask your children who are pursuing B.Ed how much money they have to pay. What has happened to the money that was available under the ADB, under the human capital development programme that was brought by our government?” he asked.