Tura, April 7: The Congress party has released its manifesto for the GHADC elections putting across a series of steps it intends to take if voted to power though some of the points raised by the party have already been placed by other groups and organizations.

Leader of the opposition and former Congress chief minister Mukul M Sangma released the manifesto at Narangkol election rally in Bajengdoba constituency while seeking support for the party candidate.

According to the manifesto, the party will seek equal distribution of funds for local area development by all MDCs. According to the party, this has become necessary because the preceding executive committee routed all developmental funds only through the MDCs who were from the ruling dispensation, neglecting completely the areas represented by the opposition MDCs.

Another pledge in the manifesto is the abolishing of monopoly and other multiple taxations in GHADC which the party says has led to rising prices of essential commodities.

The Congress mentions that it is keen to see the sharing of revenue with the A’king nokmas (custodians of the tribal land) for which it intends to put in place necessary procedures and systems.

The party is also in favour of strengthening the village council system for maintenance of law and order in the rural areas, and the strengthening of the administrative system for an effective financial discipline to avoid leakages and corruption.

On revenue generation the Congress speaks about multiple strategies including the construction of marketing facilities, parking lots, public amenities in the markets owned and controlled by the GHADC.

On payment of taxes to the council, the Congress says it will open tax collection offices and online transactions in each district to avoid inconvenience to the public. However, it is worth mentioning that the current NPP led EC had already initiated the process of online payment to stem the misappropriation of funds and revenue loss.

The Congress has stated that it will seek a “Constitutional mandate” to get the finance commission to augment the “Consolidated fund of the State” and supplement the resources of the autonomous council.

It has also endorsed the move to upgrade the GHADC into a territorial Council, something that was inked by the now disbanded militant outfit ANVC which signed a ceasefire with the government for its implementation.

The burning issue of illegal immigration was also mentioned in the congress manifesto where the party endorses the enforcement of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act 2016 by the state government to prevent illegal immigrants into Garo Hills.