Shillong, Sept 13: Leader of Opposition, Dr. Mukul Sangma on Monday slammed the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government for delay in appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) in the state.

By delaying the appointment, Dr Sangma said the government is attempting to weaken the Lokayukta, which is designed to deter the tendency of corruption at the high offices.

Stating that the purpose of the Right to Information (RTI) Act is to empower the people to have access to information, he said, “The purpose is to create a deterrence from the tendency of anybody who is vested with the responsibility of implementing number of programmes because in spite of the prevailing and existing mechanisms which are capable of having checks and balances, the process of implementation of programmes were found to be wanting, there are always scope of irregularities and instances of alleged corruption at the level of implementation at the ground zero. Therefore, it became important to empower people by acting like a watchdog…this will only help the government.”

He said from here only one can probably draw a conclusion as to what is the priority of the government.

“…that means the government doesn’t want this kind of institution which is capable of empowering the people, capable of identifying instances of irregularities, instances of alleged corruption because it is happening on the ground, that is why they want to ensure that it is not there,” he added.

Frequent transfer of police officials

The Leader of Opposition further stated that the frequent transfer and posting of police officials has impacted the overall functioning of the police organization.

“From day one every appointment, the transfer and posting of Inspector, Sub Inspector, the transfer and posting of senior officers including the SPs, DIGs, IGs – how these transfers have impacted in  ultimately creating an environment which can be capable enough of defiling the whole positive energy that was visible in the police organization,” he said.

According to him, people must be able to understand and be analytical on the intent of any of the individuals whom they want to give the kind of mandate to take the charges of governance in the state as it is very crucial for democracy to be vibrant and sustainable.