Shillong, May 20: In line with the Centre’s call for voluntary austerity measures following the financial uncertainties triggered by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, the Meghalaya government has directed Ministers in the State to avoid foreign tours and adhere to spending restraint measures initiated by the Narendra Modi government.
The move comes after the Centre issued a seven-point economic appeal urging States and public representatives to adopt austerity measures in view of the global economic pressure arising from the geopolitical situation in West Asia. Acting on the advisory, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has asked members of his Cabinet to defer non-essential overseas visits and maintain fiscal discipline.
Confirming the development, Cabinet Minister Marcuise N Marak said the State government has already begun implementing the austerity directive issued by the Centre.
“With regards the austerity measure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has requested all the states, here in Meghalaya, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has request all the ministers to follow the austerity measures,” Marak said.
He revealed that an official visit to the United Kingdom planned by the Soil and Water Conservation Department to study climate change-related initiatives and water harvesting models has been put on hold following the directive.
“I was planning to visit UK with my soil and water conservation team to study the climate change issues, and all with regard to implementation of the climate adaptive community based water harvesting project. To study this we were planning to go to UK, we had sent the request to the Chief Minister but because of the PM’s austerity measures, we were told not to proceed and we were told to hold on this. So therefore we are not going we have abided by the request of the CM,” he added.
