Official sources revealed that as a part of the exercise, two senior Ministers, Dr Bhumidhar Barman and Bharat Chandra Narah recently held a meeting with the senior officers of different Government departments to review the progress of implementation of the promises given in the election manifesto of the Congress. Interestingly, the reviewing of the progress of works revealed that many of the promises made in the manifesto remained unfulfilled.
Sources said that the Congress promised to solve the problem of militancy through dialogues and the Ministers reviewed the progress of the efforts to bring the ultras to the negotiation table. The Government is yet make much headway in the efforts to bring the United Liberation Front of Asom(ULFA) to the negotiation table, while, talks with the militant groups, which already signed cease-fire agreement with the Government are also not progressing satisfactorily.
The departments concerned did not have enough information on sealing of the international border with Bangladesh and it was evident during the course of the discussions. As on date, the Government does not have clear cut information on the progress of construction of border roads and fencing because central government agencies are also engaged in the work and the border pillars are also reportedly found missing in some places and those are yet to be replaced.
The State Government has not been able to make any headway in solving the inter-state boundary disputes. Though meetings at different levels are being held with Meghalaya, the disputes are yet to be resolved and according to records available with the Government, fresh encroachments are still on.
The manifesto review meeting also brought out some startling failures of the Government in dealing with the problem of floods and erosion. The efforts to protect Majuli river island is not making much headway while, the delay on the part of the Government in releasing funds also seriously affected flood protection works. Sources said that the Government failed to release funds for protection of Matmora and it would be very difficult to complete the work before the ensuing monsoon season.
Interestingly, despite taking up various schemes for rural development, the number of people living below the poverty line has not decreased since 2001, which raised doubts on the success of the schemes. Moreover, the Planning Commission figures of the people living below the poverty line in the state did not tally with the figures of the State Government and a fresh survey of BPL families in the state is likely soon.
The Congress is also likely to review the progress of work of other departments soon in phased manner in the run up to the polls in an effort to woo the voters in the ensuing Parliamentary elections.
