Meghalaya registering 'doubtful citizens' in health scheme, says MLA

Shillong, Oct 10 : Meghalaya independent legislator Saleng Sangma on Tuesday accused the Mukul Sangma-led government of registering "doubtful citizens" in a government-sponsored health insurance scheme.

The legislator met Governor Ganga Prasad and demanded action against officers who registered names of people from 28 households, whose citizenship was questionable, for the Megha Health Insurance Scheme.

The state health insurance scheme is part of the centrally-sponsored Rashtriya Swasthya Biman Yojana framework.

He said the unrelenting influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh into Meghalaya, especially the Garo Hills, and the consequent change in the demographic pattern has been a matter of grave concern.

"I do not know who these people are. To me, they are doubtful citizens; and let me tell you, there are no non-indigenous people residing in my constituency. The government must delete their names from the list of beneficiaries," Saleng Sangma said.

The legislator said that he had demanded the arrest of officials who were responsible for fraudulently including "doubtful citizens" in government-sponsored schemes.

Saleng Sangma, who was a community and rural development minister in the previous Mukul Sangma cabinet, said: "If this problem is not rooted out in time, these citizens will pose a threat to the ethnic communities -- the Khasis, the Jaintias and the Garos -- besides genuine non-indigenous communities in the state, and to national security."