Shillong, June 1: Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma today said every government department would be asked to part with a certain percentage of funds under the budget for the overall improvement of the inter-state border areas.

The move came in the wake of the Opposition asking the government to create a separate policy and department for development of the inter-state border in the aftermath of the Langpih firing, in the state Assembly today.

Sangma’s suggestion is in line with the non-lapsable central pool of resources where the central ministries allocate 10 per cent of their budget for the development of the Northeast. Though the chief minister did not refer to the similarity, he told the Assembly that the state departments would be asked to earmark a certain percentage of funds for a period of five years for development of the inter-state border areas.

“We need all government departments to allocate a certain percentage of amount to focus on the development of the border areas,” he said.

The chief minister admitted that there was total neglect on the part of the government over the past several years as far as the issue of development of the inter-state borders is concerned.

According to Sangma, there was hardly any infrastructure in the inter-state border and the number of villages to be electrified was many.

“The Langpih issue has opened our eyes. Now we should have a common objective of developing not only Langpih but other border areas too,” he said.

Sangma said a tender had already been floated to construct an all-weather road at Langpih and similar development schemes would be initiated at Psiar in Jaintia Hills.

The chief minister, however, ruled out the creation of any separate department to deal with the inter-state border saying convergence of the schemes of all departments was needed to develop the border areas.

Earlier, moving a motion on the problems faced by the people in the inter-state border areas, Opposition leader Conrad Sangma said there should be a separate policy and department to deal with the border areas.

He said as the border area development department looked after only the international border areas, there was an urgent need to have a separate department and special policy to improve the inter-state border areas.

Sangma, who visited Langpih and other inter-state border areas, told the Assembly that his journey to the inter-state borders was deplorable. “There is no communication facilities nor road connectivity, leave alone hospitals and schools in several villages on the inter-state borders,” he added.