Countering false narrative with facts and figures
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 02, 2024 -

REGARDLESS of the Public Works Department placing in the public domain facts and figures explicitly regarding allocation of funds, apparently to counter recent criticism by Saikot MLA Paolienlal Haokip alleging disparity in the developmental index between the hill and valley areas, it is unlikely that the tribal legislators, elected representatives of the Kuki-Zo community in particular, would cease accusing the government for the sluggish pace in infrastructure development in the hill districts.

Notably, after the advent of politics centring on sectarianism some decades back and rise of tribe/community-oriented regional political organisations, seasoned and rookie politicians seeking mandate of the electors in the hill assembly segments have been making it a point to blame the government for the hill areas lagging behind in development, and alleging diversion of funds meant for development projects in the hills.

As such, the fund allocation details provided by the PWD chief engineer in the backdrop of MLA Paolienlal's accusation underscores that the present government is fully prepared to negate malicious propaganda, being spread with the sole intention of furthering one's political career by exploiting socio-political naivety of the hill denizens.

Unlike the past governments which seem to have held the belief that falsehood need not be countered and that the people would eventually realise the endeavour for uniform development, the chief engineer sharing comparative amount spent in the hills and plains for road and bridge projects underscores that the N Biren-led government, regardless of being branded as Meetei-centric regime by the Kuki CSOs and politicians, has firm resolve to negate the smear campaign.

As per the details shared by the chief engineer in a press statement issued Thursday, Rs 2395.51 crore was sanctioned for different road and bridge projects in the hill areas of the state from 2020-21 to 2024-25 compared Rs 1,300.21 crore sanctioned for similar projects in the valley area in the same period.

Elaborating that fund sanctioned and released under the present government was under various schemes, the statement specified that Rs 537.61 crore was sanctioned for 12 road and bridge projects in hill areas in 2020-21 against Rs 167.56 crore in 'valley for 15 projects; Rs 244.72 crore for 27 projects in the hills in 2021-22, compared to Rs 66.55 crore for 131 projects in the valley; Rs 708.27 crore for 130 projects in the hill areas in 2022-23 and Rs 377.48 crore for 368 projects in valley; Rs 673.88 crore in 2023-24 for 153 road and bridge projects in the hills against Rs 577.01 crore for 597 projects in the valley; and in 2024-25, 31 projects worth Rs 231.07 was sanctioned for hill areas whereas Rs 111.61 crore was sanctioned for nine projects in the valley areas.

The statement maintained that during the last four years, projects undertaken by NHIDCL in hill areas amounted to Rs 8,541.97 crore while that of valley areas was Rs 351.08 crore.

The details shared imply that accusations about funds meant for the hill areas diverted to implement projects in the plains could be figment of the imagination and possibly testimony about successive tribal legislators' desperate bid to cover up insincerity and incompetency.

Moreover, funds earmarked for development are not meant for splurging in unpopulated regions, which the hill areas have in abundance but for ensuring basic amenities in populated areas.

That 60 per cent of the state's total population reside in the valley should be more than enough evidence to merit higher allocation for development projects.

Therefore, in-spite of the hills areas receiving project funds far exceeding that of the valley but still unable to see much changes in infrastructure development could be due to known and unknown factors rather than prejudiced policies as alleged periodically by tribal legislators and civil bodies.