Shillong, Aug 27: VPP chief Ardent Basaiawmoit’s call attention move alleging non-payment of ex-gratia to five victims of a workplace accident fell flat in the Assembly on Thursday as Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma informed that the assistance was actually released Chief Minister’s Special Grant (CMSG) “without any publicity”.
Basaiawmoit said he raised the query based on “media reports”.
Stating that the information that ex-gratia was denied is incorrect, the Chief Minister said, “Ex-gratia has been released to these families not from the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) but from CMSG.”
He mentioned that ex-gratia under SDMF is strictly meant for natural disasters and cannot be used for accidents due to its specific definition.
However, there are no specific guidelines for CMSG as the circumstances differ from case to case.
“Based on circumstances, the CM is at liberty to give ex-gratia,” he said.
He further explained that the operation of CMSG is “very sensitive and complicated” as one precedence of aiding accident victims leads to expectation for similar assistance for other cases.
“It is a very narrow space we are trying to function in,” he said.
The Chief Minister also mentioned the government chose to act without talking about it and referred to a cabinet minister’s saying “we act more, we talk less”.
“We realised the circumstances of these families and this incident and supported them under CMSG without making a noise, without going public, without making a social media reel,” he said.
“We believe our action is more important than making news out of it. Maybe that is why the member and media houses did not come to know,” he said.
To this, Basaiawmoit responded, “As responsible members, we took up the issue based on media reports. It is not that we want to talk more and work less.”
