A CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, on Wednesday, visited Mawkyrwat in South West Khasi Hills and took part in various community-led interventions being initiated by the Government.
At Mawsde Village, the Chief Minister inaugurated the functional household tap connections, where about 25 households in the small hamlet was covered under the JMM (Jal Jeevan Mission) in the presence of PHE (Public Health Engineering) Minister Renikton Lyngdoh. They interacted with the beneficiaries. He also attended an interaction programme with the Producers' Group (PG) under 'PRIME Meghalaya' -- an initiative of the MBMA (Meghalaya Basin Management Agency) at Mawkyrwat DC office campus. During the programme, the PGs expressed their concerns related to farming, upscaling and market linkages.
The Chief Minister gave a patient hearing and expressed the Government's commitment to leverage farming activities by extending financial support. He said that farmers should come together and increase their productivity, which will enable them to sell their produce in a more effective manner.
The Chief Minister also told the gathering about the CM-PGS (Chief Minister's Producer Group Support Program) which will facilitate farmers to increase their production, improve productivity, facilitate credit linkages and strengthen access to markets for the producers engaged in activities such as farming, livestock rearing and related activities.
During the programme, he also handed over cheques to 15 different groups, who came together to form the PGs to upscale their farming activities and double their incomes. "I have been visiting different parts of the State to understand and address the problems of our farmers, so that we can plan and formulate policies that are pro-farmer and pro-people," he said.
Along with the PHE Minister, the Chief Minister also inaugurated a footbridge over Rilang River at Jashiar village, a community-led initiative under the MG-NREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme). The 53 meters footbridge was collectively taken up by three Village Employment Council (VECs ) – Nongbah, Marshillong and Jashiar, who completed the bridge in a record time of three months.
Speaking at the brief inaugural function, the Chief Minister informed that Meghalaya has earned the reputation of being one of the top performing States in terms of implementation of MG-NREGS and has received allocation of over Rs 1,600-crore budget, compared to even bigger States like Assam.
"We have a population of 30 lakh, and Assam has over 3 crore plus population, however, our spending has been better, so we were accorded higher allocation. Our per capita spending is close to Rs 17,000 in wage component per beneficiaries," he added.
Later, he also inspected the PMAY houses in the village and also handed over an ex-gratia amount of Rs. 50,000 to the family of COVID deceased at Sakwang Village. It is to be mentioned that the deceased left behind nine children, the youngest being 15 days old.
He also interacted with community leaders and field functionaries on the fight against COVID-19 and encouraged the people of the area to come out for vaccination. The Chief Minister also inspected the CHC at Mawkyrwat.
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