'More districts in Meghalaya soon'

SHILLONG: The state government is taking steps to create three more districts in addition to the existing seven during the course of the year, governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshary told the assembly on the first day of the budget session on Friday.

"The government realizes the need for bring the administration closer to the people in order to lend focus to the development efforts as necessary corollary to peace and stability," he said.

Pointing out that for 2011-12, annual plan allocation for the state is Rs 2727 crore, an increase of 18.56 per cent over the earlier year's allocation, Mooshahary said the government was committed to implementing the newly launched Integrated Basin Development and Livelihoop Promotion Programme.

"The state government has been able to steer to a marked level of financial stability and various e-governance initiatives and integrated financial management system have been made operational for processing all inputs received from the treasuries," he added.

"The system of government receipts and payments were simplified by implementation of the Cyber Treasury in July, 2011 and now registered dealers can pay their taxes online at any time or place," the government said. Mentioning that the "assured career progression scheme" adopted earlier has addressed the problem of stagnation in service, he said steps were being taken for creation of an employee database, including pensioners.