Meghalaya govt seeks Rs 730 crore from Fin Comm for ADCs

The Meghalaya government has sought Rs 730 crore from the 14th Finance Commission for the upkeep of three autonomous district councils in the state, an increase of nearly 50 per cent from the award of the previous Commission, officials today said.     

"The state government has sought an amount of Rs 730 crore from the Centre through the 14th Finance Commission headed by former RBI Governor Y V Reddy," District Council Affairs Commissioner and Secretary J Lyngdoh told PTI. He said Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for undertaking developmental schemes in the respective jurisdictions of each of the councils and the remaining Rs 230 crore is meant for upgradation and improvement of infrastructure.     

According to Lyngdoh, the funds were sought on the basis of the trends of intake and spending capacity of the autonomous district councils in the past years.     

The 13th Finance Commission had awarded an amount of Rs 344.22 crore to the three councils in the state for which an amount of about Rs  109 crore is yet to be released by the Centre, sources said.     

The autonomous district councils are autonomous administrative divisions which the Centre has given varying degrees of autonomy within the state legislature under the sixth schedule to the Constitution.     

The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) chief, P N Syiem and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) chief, M B Rymbai presented separate memorandums to the Commission.

The Commission, which met Chief Minister Mukul Sangma yesterday, also met leaders of different political parties, chief executive officers of different municipal boards and members of the business community.