Aizawl: Mizoram BJP president and legislator K Beichhua on Saturday accused CM Lalduhoma of making “baseless and false” statements about the state’s three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), calling his remarks immature and irresponsible.In a social media post, Beichhua alleged that the CM’s statements distorted history, undermined constitutional safeguards and downplayed the status of the ADCs.BJP’s Siaha district unit also rejected and condemned Lalduhoma’s remarks on the financial condition of the Mara, Lai and Chakma ADCs. In a statement issued to the people of the Mara area, the party sought clarification over comments made by the CM during the inauguration of the new Siaha deputy commissioner’s office on August 21.BJP cited financial data to counter allegations of mismanagement in the Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC). It acknowledged that the council had historically spent a high proportion of its allocation on salaries, but said this had also occurred under previous Congress and Mizo National Front govts.According to the figures cited by the party, the MADC spent an average of 94.68% of its state allocation on salaries and 5.32% on non-salary expenditure between 2012-13 and 2016-17.The party said the MADC currently had liabilities of around Rs 2,588.30 lakh, compared with approximately Rs 7,000 lakh for the Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) and Rs 6,300 lakh for the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC)).It also disputed Lalduhoma’s claim that the LADC spends 100% and the CADC 97% of their allocations on salaries.BJP further accused the CM of failing to honour assurances allegedly given on four occasions that additional funds or RE allocations would be released to MADC. It described the failure as a “serious betrayal” of the people of the Mara area.Opposing Lalduhoma’s proposal to cap salary expenditure by ADCs at 60% of their total allocations, BJP said the restriction could force MADC to remove roughly one-third of its officers and staff recruited over the past two decades under its autonomous powers.The BJP further opposed any move to appoint IAS or MCS officers as chief executive officers of the ADCs, arguing that it would weaken their constitutional autonomy.
