R.S. Mooshahary Shillong, Mar 12 : Meghalaya Governor R.S. Mooshahary took tongue-in-cheek jabs at The Telegraph report on his frequent chopper rides today, hoping that “no one writes about it this time”, a few hours after landing in Guwahati riding the same copter.
Based on findings scooped out from a Right to Information report, The Telegraph yesterday revealed how the governor has flown to Narengi, a 20-minute drive from his Beltola residence, 89 times in the past two years, spending more than Rs 1 crore of public money.
“Here I am again in Guwahati. Hope no one writes about it this time,” said Mooshahary, who is in the city to inaugurate a two-day regional conference on craft and contemporary design.
As a few in the audience giggled and others cocked their ears to listen, the governor continued: “And many an eyebrow was raised as to why I choose to land at the army helipad at Narengi rather than at Guwahati airport.”
“If I would have landed at the airport I could have never attended this inaugural function in time”.
Activists of the Right to Information Act, however, demanded a reply into the findings, stating that a head of state must be accountable for his actions.
“Every public authority must be made accountable for his actions and the governor should reply to the RTI findings as reported in the newspaper,” convener of the Mait Shaphrang Movement and pioneer of the RTI movement in Meghalaya, Michael Syiem, said.
Syiem was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing National Convention on RTI at U Soso Tham Auditorium in Shillong.
Syiem said the people expected public figures to exercise austerity in spending at a time when the state is going through a severe financial crunch.
Syiem’s words reminded one of the slogan chanted by RTI activists who have converged here since yesterday — “Hamaara Paisa, Hamaara Hisaab (Our Money, Our Accounts)”.
Yesterday, during an address at the National Convention, Mooshahary had said he was approached by a journalist on the Assembly premises asking him about the RTI findings.
“I used to land at Narengi as the place is located near to the venues of my official functions,” the governor had said.
He had also said the trips undertaken by him were “official”.
Ironically, the Raj Bhavan donated Rs 1 lakh towards the National Convention to help strengthen the RTI Act — the same law that provided access to information to unearth the chopper service details.
The data, made available through RTI, threw up a series of figures on the use of the chopper facility by dignitaries that costs other citizens Rs 1,700 per trip from Shillong to Tura and vice versa, Rs 1,500 for Guwahati-Tura and Rs 1,200 for a Guwahati-Shillong sortie.