Shillong, May 20: The Thma U Rangli Juki (TUR) and Workers Power of Meghalaya have demanded the state government to consolidate the MLA scheme to help mitigate the COVID-19 crisis in the state.

“This is a time to support the working classes of Meghalaya and therefore keeping in mind financial crisis in the state, it is but right to consolidate MLALAD and MPLAD funds to help mitigate the crisis being faced by the toiling people of the state,” the two organizations said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

They informed that a memorandum in this regard has been submitted to the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma for necessary action.

“We demand that Rs 2 crores sanctioned to MLAs to implement various schemes each year should immediately be consolidated into a single fund of Rs 120 crores and cash transfer/income support for the families daily wage workers, domestic workers, taxi drivers, shop assistants, street vendors and marginal farmers should be done from such a fund of Rs 5000 in two installments,” the organizations said while stating that the working-class families are staring at hunger, disease and homelessness.

Further, they also demanded that 25% salary of Class One Officers including central services officers and the tax refund being done for IAS & IPS officer should also be utilised to take care of the out of pocket medical expenses of the working class citizens during this pandemic. “Crisis facing our society is not just medical but is connected to the choices we make vis a vis governance and politics,” they added.