Shillong, Jan 25: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to the State and the citizens on the occasion of the 73rd Republic Day and in the 50th year of Meghalaya’s statehood.

“Let us on this day pay homage to all the freedom fighters. Let us also remember with reverence, Meghalaya’s own patriots, U Tirot Sing, U Kiang Nangbah and Pa Togan N. Sangma and many other unsung heroes. I would also like to express my gratitude to the members of the armed forces, the paramilitary and the police force for their selfless services rendered for the safety of our citizens,” said CM.

On the occasion, he also spelled the three core pillars of the society and his government’s thrust areas – Farmers, women and youth.

“We have made targeted interventions such as bringing down the interest rates on KCC loans to zero percent. We are also assisting the farmers to take up collectivization by giving a support of Rs. 5,000 to each farming household under the FOCUS program. The mission mode projects such as the Lakadong mission, the mushroom mission, the piggery mission, aquaculture mission and the milk mission are being implemented and expanded to create additional sources of income for our farmers. We have already reached out to almost 50,000 farming households under these initiatives and the goal is to reach all the 4.5 lakhs farming households in the State by the end of this year,” he said.

Speaking about women empowerment in the State, Sangma said, “We are also supporting the SHG movement to empower the women in our State…in just over three years, we have formed about 28,000 SHGs which is a five fold jump from the 5,500 SHGs that we had in 2018. Additionally, we are also laying great emphasis on their health and nutrition aspects through the MOTHER program. Through deployment of technology and commitment from our health workers, the program has benefitted almost 1.13 lakh women over the last three years.”

On various Youth development policies, Sangma informed that the MDA Govt has been striving to ensure that the youth in the State get the best of facilities and opportunity for growth.

“The health, education and sports infrastructure that we are building will precisely provide such opportunities for the youth. Further, about 10,000 youth will be trained in skills and talents as part of the recently launched State youth policy,” said CM.

He also informed that the overall law and order in the State was peaceful during the previous year, and various festivals including National Day celebrations passed off peacefully.

On the long vexed boundary issue, Sangma said the Meghalaya and Assam have been successful in arriving at a resolution in six out of the 12 border areas of difference.

Lauding at the development rate of the State, he said, “We have been among the better performing states in terms of creation of infrastructure, program execution and service delivery, we saw an accelerated pace of implementation in schemes such as the PMGSY, Jal Jeevan Mission and the MGNREGS.”

He also added that, “Iconic infrastructure such as the New Assembly Building, the Shillong International Center for Performing Arts, the Ganol Hydro Electric Power Project, the Crowborough and the Marriott hotels, the PA Sangma stadium in Tura, the Wahiajer football stadium, the IT Park in Shillong, water supply projects at Baghmara and Nongstoin , the Shillong Government College of Engineering and the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tura will be made operational this year.”

Chief Minister informed that huge investments are being made in tourism, roads, health and the power sectors with the assistance from external funding agencies.

Highlighting the investments brought-in by the MDA government within a short span of four years, he informed that the amount being invested by external funding agencies in the State has gone up from Rs. 2,300 Cr in 2018 to Rs. 7,000 Cr today.

The Umroi airport that now has direct connectivity to seven cities, was also operationalized during the last three years.

Informing the citizens that the MDA Govt is committed to achieving the vision of being amongst the top 10 states in the next 10 years, Sangma said, “I am confident that with the foundation that we have laid and with the continued support from all the citizens, we will be able to make this the Meghalaya decade.”