‘Meghalaya’s husband-wife govt neglected healthcare’
SONGSAK/TURA (MEGHALAYA): Meghalaya’s “bura buri” government has failed to address healthcare concerns of the people, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday, using the Garo term for ‘husband-wife’ to refer to chief minister Mukul Sangma and his minister wife.
Addressing rallies in the Garo Hills ahead of assembly elections on February 27, Singh attacked the Congress-led government on a range of issues, including healthcare and law and order.
Rooting for the BJP, he said the party would make Meghalaya the “Scotland of the East” if elected to power. It was painful to see that people from Meghalaya were forced to go to Bangladesh for treatment, Singh said in his rallies in Songsak in East Garo Hills and Tura in West Garo Hills. The senior BJP leader, who started his speeches in the local language and ended in it too, said his party would ensure proper health facilities throughout the state if it came to power.
“I have been told patients from here were taken to Bangladesh for treatment on a ‘charpoy’. This is very painful,” he said. Taking on the Congress-led government, he said it was unfortunate that there was no health infrastructure despite the chief minister being a doctor.
Singh pointed out that the BJP government at the Centre had announced a health insurance scheme to provide free treatment up to ₹5 lakh. “The BJP will completely transform healthcare in the state if it comes to power,” he said. Singh added that the party would convert the Shillong hospi- tal into a research institute and open a cancer hospital. Referring to the law and order situation, he said there were 57 police stations of which only 39 were active.
“How can you expect proper law and order in the state in such a scenario. Who is responsible?” he asked. State government employees, he added, were getting Fifth Pay Commission salaries but the BJP would ensure that they are at par with other states if voted to power.