MEGHALAYA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

RE -ASSEMBLE BUDGET SESSION,  2004

BULLETIN NO. 7

(Monday, The 21^st June, 2004)

                The House met at 10 a.m. with the Hon'ble Speaker in the Chair. The day was devoted for the transaction of Government Business.

1.        QUESTION

                Starred questions Nos. 86,87,89,90,94,95,96,97,99,and100 with Supplementaries thereto and Nos.92 and 101 without supplementary were disposed of starred questions Nos. 88,91,93 and 98 lapsed since the questionnaire was absent.
                Unstarred questions Nos. 38 to 45 to which written answers were given have been laid on the tables.

2.        POINT OF ORDER :

                Under Rule 300 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of business, Shri P.T. Sawkmie, Minister in charge Excise, raised a point of order with regard to the motion of breach of privilege against Shri E.K Sangma, M.L.A. Quoting Rules 161,162, 163 and 167 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of business, he suggested that the House may proceed with the matter in the absence of Shri E.K. Sangma to which he alleged that he was not present in the House intentionally so that it does not create a precedent in future.

3.       ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE CHAIR :

               The Hon'ble speaker informed the House that he had received a letter this morning from the concerned member requesting for deferring of the date for information of the House he read out the letter.
               Shri Zenith M. Sangma suggested that the House should proceed with the matter since he said that he found Shri E.K. Sangma in the members ' Hostel yesterday and that he was not hospitalised.
               Shri T.D. Shira took part and pleaded that Shri E.K. Sangma was admitted in the Civil Hospital recently but after some time when he came back from the Hospital he fell sick again and he was admitted in the Civil Hospital.
               Shri Cyprian R. Sangma, Minister incharge C&R.D. opined that whether the member concerned fell sick or  whether he is willfully absent, a detail report from the Civil Hospital should be called for in this regard.
               Shri E. D. Marak, Minister incharge Health and Family Welfare, stated that he also came to know that member concern was admitted in the Civil Hospital . However , he told that the who attended Shri E.K. Sangma said that he is alright.
                After listening to the views of the Hon, members the Hon'ble speaker stated that if the statement that the concerned member is willfully absent from the House, the under rule 161of the rules of procedure the House will proceed with the matter accordingly within this session.

4.  STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER IN CHARGE FOREST & ENVIRONMENT UNDER RULE 55 :

               Under Rule 55 of procedure and conduct of business, Shri Sing Mulieh , Minister incharge Forest and Environment gave a suomotto statement to the house on the abduction  Shri D. Sathiyan Divisional Forest Officer , Baghmara in charge  of Balpakram National Park by the some unidentified persons at about 9.30 a.m. on 18th June, 2004.

5.        VOTING DEMANDS FOR GRANTS :

                Shri J.D. Rymbai, continued this reply to the discussion on grant No.9. He presented detailed figures of revenue collection for the period from 2002 -2003 and 2003 -2004. As regards out standing assessment cases, the Minister in charge stated that according to his finding, there are about 33,000 cases of assessment and that the non-payment of returns by the dealers was due to non - receipt of  treasury challans in time and the non - continuance of timber trade by the those dealers due to Supreme Courts ban.
                He also stated that one of the reasons is that most of the dealers under the Meghalaya Sales Tax Act and the Meghalaya Finance Sales tax Act are government suppliers who have got out  standing bills under various Government Departments. However, he assured that Government will take necessary steps to see that all taxable traders are compulsorily registered as per rules and that presently, the Government is embarking upon  computerisation for filing of returns to ensure correct assessment and to bring  about efficiency in the administration and that an amount of Rs.3.14 crores ha been sanctioned and will be fully reimbursed by the Central Government . He also apprised that the Value Added Tax will be introduced soon to plug the loop - holes in the Taxation system.
                The cut motion was ultimately withdrawn by the mover with the leave of the House and Grant No.9 was passed.
                Grant No. 10 was passed since there was no cut motion .Grant No.11 was also a passed  since the mover was not present. Grants No. 12,13,14, and 15 were also passed since there were no cut motion against these Grants.
                Shri D.D. Lapang, Chief Minister moved Grant No. 16 .
                Shri A. Choudhuri, moved his cut motion against this Grant and he discussed on the functioning of the department with special reference to modernisation of the police force.
                The hon. member from Mawprem, was critical on the alarming increase in criminal activities in the state whereas the culprits remain at large and that the continuous failure of the police to track down the culprits and their lack of effectiveness has led to the rising no. of crimes and murders. He cited the examples of so many person killed by unknown miscreants in the recent past in the Shillong city and the suburbs where in investigations were on but nothing has come out till date. He also mentioned on the lack of man power in the almost in all the police outposts and police stations with special reference to the cantonment outpost in his constituency and called for measures to improve the infrastructures  by providing those outposts with more staffs, Vehicles, modern equipment and also dog squad. Citing the cases of Monica who was gang raped and murdered at Mahadevkhola two years back and another girl Sonia Pathaw killed one year back, the mover come down heavily on police department for their failure to nap the culprits. He requested the Government to take the matter seriously to find out a solution to this problem and called for efforts on the part of the police department to detect car lifting's which is rampant as of now.
                 The mover of the cut motion gave categorical statement of targets of figures sanctioned by the Central Government since 200-2001 upto 2002-2003 on the fund allotment by the Central Government for modernisation of police but was subsequently discontinued due to non- utilisation and non -implementation by the police department. he proposed for a Risk Allowance and monitory compensation for holidays forgone. Shri J.M. Marak and Shri M. Rava supported the cut motion.
In reply to the points raised by the mover and other members who took part , Shri D.D. Lapang, Chief Minister, presented  a detailed statement of the functioning of the police department since its bifurcation from the erstwhile Assam Government. He stated that after 1992-93 the situation was changed because of the emergence of militant groups such as H.N.L.C and A.N.V.C. and in order to meet the requirement of force, the Central Government in 1993-94 has provided financial assistance but it was not adequate to meet the full requirement of the force . However, he stated that the Government of India has formulated a scheme on modernisation of police force in kind by providing equipments like bullet proof vehicles and others but the schemes was discontinued from 2001-2002 whereby financial assistance available since then was fixed at 50:50 to be shared between the State and Central Government. He gave detailed figure of the amount received and spend by the police department from the period 2001-2002 upto 2002-2003.
                The Chief Minister apprised the House that recently the police department has set up a committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Long-kumer ex- D.G.P. and to submit the recommendation for the improvement on the over all functioning and modernising of Police Force. On car lifting he said that many cases have been detected by the police with the co- operation of the people. As regard police manual, he informed that the work has been taken up and that sometimes is required for the State Police officials to do the work and that the proposal was under process. He assured that the Government is considering the welfare of the State police and that Rs.2crore had been sanctioned for holiday forgone and that other problems have been seized by the Government. The cut motion was thereafter withdrawn by the mover with the leave of the House and Grant No.16 was passed.
                Grant No.17 was passed since there was no cut motion against this Grant.
                Shri D. D. Lapang, Chief Minister moved Grant No. 18.
                Shri A. Choudhuri moved his cut motion against this Grant. He discussed on the functioning of the Printing & Stationery department. The mover suggested that immediate action should be take to stop and do away with the old system of printing and unproductive sections. He drew the attention of the Government that all department are getting free of cost those indents submitted by various departments which are realistic requirements and this has resulted in sheer wastage of Government money. He informed the House that last two years two Coloured Printing Machines had been purchased by the3 Government and yet about 7 lakh of rupees worth of printing works had been sent outside the State. He urge upon the Government not to send printing works to outside but they should be done in their own modern Colour Printing Machines. He also suggested that no N. O. C. should be give to the departments for printing outsides with without the prior approval of the Commissioner and Secretary of P & S Department. He suggested the opening of printing of stationery in Garo Hills on priority basis. Shri J. M. Marak and Shri M. Rava supported the cut Motion. 
                 In reply to the points raised by the mover and other participants, Shri D. D. Lapang, Chief Minister stated that the Government is committed to improve the functioning of the Printing and Stationery Department and all efforts would be taken to plug the loopholes where the leakages and to go in for modernisation of the whole printing system. He assured that the State Government will seriously take step to see that all wastages could be stopped and the mistakes should be rectified. The cut motion was then withdrawn by the mover with the leave of the House and Grant No. 18 was passed. Grants Nos. 19 and 20 were also passed since there were no cut motions to these Grants.

5.    ADJOURNMENT :  

                The House rose at 2 p.m. and stood adjourned till 10 a.m on Tuesday, the 22nd June, 2004.