Shillong, June 1: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Thursday asked the state government to direct the chairmen, co-chairmen, vice-chairmen and deputy chairmen of the Meghalaya Economic Development Council (MEDC), the Meghalaya Resource and Employment Generation Council (MREGC) and the Regional Planning and Development Council (RPDC) to reimburse the money claimed by them as honorarium for failing to contribute anything to the state.

“…they have failed to perform anything during their tenure and have contributed nothing to the State as a whole and as such they have no right to claim any of the perks and remuneration as per their appointment,” the HYC said in its letter to the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.

The letter said the RTI information has informed that an amount of Rs 68,86,6239, Rs 1,14,87,259 and Rs 360298 were spent by MEDC, MREGC and RPDC, respectively, towards payment of wages to staffs attached to various Chairmen, Vice-Chairmen, Co-Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of these Councils during the period of March, 2018 till February, 2023.

It was also informed that an amount of Rs 86,16,027 (MEDC), Rs 1,72,31,682 (MREGC) and Rs 3,27, 780 (RPDC) are the claimed made and paid to various Chairmen, Vice-Chairmen, Co-Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of these Councils during the said period as Honorarium, Conveyances allowance, House Rent allowance, Hospitality charges, Electricity Charges, TA/DA, Maintenance of Furniture, etc.

“In spite of the fact that these Councils have important functions to perform as mandated upon them by various orders of the State Government under which they were constituted and inspite of the fact that public funds to the tune of about Rs. 4.5 Crores were spent during this period, it is sad to learn that these Councils have not perform any of their duties and functions during the last Five Years,” the HYC said.

Meanwhile, the HYC has also demanded the state government to ensure that corrective actions are taken at the earliest to avoid such unnecessary expenses from the public funds.

“We strongly condemn this act of unnecessary and unproductive expenditure of a substantial amount of Public funds by the State Government in payment of various perks and remuneration to these Councils which serve no purpose or contribute nothing towards the State and its people. This is nothing but a fraud on the citizens of the State and we demand that strong action should be taken to ensure that public funds are not wasted as such in the future,” it said.

Further, the HYC said that the government should make payment towards any claim made by the Chairman, Co-Chairman, etc of any Council/Committee/Commission, only after taking into consideration of the contribution made or functions performed as per mandates of these bodies;

It further demanded to keep on hold the appointment of casual staffs to various appointees of the Committees/Commissions/Councils, etc till such time the State Government come up with a concrete policy on the working of these bodies.