'Rs 100cr for development of Nongtrai-Shella lying unused'

Over Rs 100 crore funded by cement giant LafargeHolcim to carry out socio-economic development at Nongtrai-Shella in Meghalayas East Khasi Hills district has been lying unutilised, the Assembly was informed today.

About Rs 100 crore was lying unutilised by the Special Purpose Vehicle Society where the Forest department is the nodal department, Mawsynram MLA Himalaya Shangpliang told the House during question hour.

He blamed bureaucratic wrangles as the reason for the delay in implementation of the projects.

Shangpliang, a former board member of the SPV Society when he was social welfare director, was elected Mawsynram MLA in the February 27 elections and several villages in his constituency are beneficiaries of the socio-economic development like health, education, economy, irrigation and agriculture.

Stating that not only road projects approved by the board of the SPVS were not sanctioned and taken up, Shangpliang said water supply projects were also not sanctioned by the governing body.

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, in his reply, assured the member to look into the matter while also informing the House that he had already had a meeting with the chief secretary last week in this regard.

LafargeHolcim pays Rs 90 per tonne as royalty and the company exports over 2 million tonnes of raw limestone from its mines at Nongtrai to its cement plant at Chattak in Bangladesh using a 17 km-long coveyor belt.