Meghalaya CM meets central ministers, seeks special central assistance

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday called on Union Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in Delhi and sought special central assistance forfunding different projects, official sources here said.

Sangma, who was accompanied by Speaker MetbahLyngdoh, briefed the union minister on the progress of worksfor the water suplly scheme in Tura, Nongstoin and GreaterShillong, construction of new assembly building, upgradationof health infrastructure and setting up of residentialschools, the sources said.

The state government has requested for additionalfund of Rs 200 cr for ongoing projects in the State.

Sangma requested Sitharaman to intervene and issueadvisory to all banks to make SHG portfolio a part of theirkey performance indicators.

During the pandemic, SHGs in Meghalaya played a majorrole in ensuing cash flow at the grassroot level and ensuredaccess to finance to the low income groups. Hence, SHGs have amajor role to play in terms of taking financial services tothe last mile populations.

''Since Meghalaya has low penetration of bank branchesin the rural areas and as such the SHG network can help bridgethe gap in providing the basic financial services, the chiefminister was quoted as saying.

He also called on Union DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh,Rail Minister Piyush Goyal, Tribal Affairs Minister ArjunMunda.

He also called on Union Education Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank and briefed him of the ongoing work onNational Institute of Technology (NIT) at Sohra, which hasbeen halted due to paucity of funds, the sources said.

Conrad requested Pokhriyal to release additional fundsto complete the building, the sources said.

NIT, Sohra requires an additional 258 cr to becompleted.