SHILLONG, MAY 27: The Meghalaya cabinet has cleared a basic administrative amendment to the Meghalaya Forest Authority Act, 1991 to let the body utilize state funds.
Speaking after chairing the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the Forest Authority Act had existed for 35 years but could not function effectively.
“This act was passed in 1991, so it has been there for 35 years now but this act could not be implemented in letter and spirit,” he said.
He explained that the authority lacked financial powers under the existing law.
“The financial powers in terms of this particular authority being able to use financial resources given by state government just to even conduct meeting or different programs was not part of the act and law department has raised concern about that,” he said.
The amendment, he said, would fix that gap. “This amendment is basic administrative kind of amendment which is allowing this particular authority to have the provision of able to utilise the funds which is given by the state government to conduct their day-to-day activities like meeting between the forest department and district councils and the state government at large,” Sangma said.
“It is minor department but as I said it is necessary because without that, the authority will not be able to function,” he added.
He said the authority was originally set up to coordinate between agencies. “The purpose of the Meghalaya Forest Authority was to help coordinate between state Forest department as well as the district council so that different monitoring mechanisms can be implemented,” he said.
