Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma informed the Assembly that the state has engaged 36 individual consultants and 59 consultancy firms to support key development programmed, with payments strictly linked to performance and deliverables.
Responding to a query from VPP legislator Heaving Stone Kharpran, Sangma stated that the total annual expenditure on remuneration for individual consultants stands at ₹4.35 crore for 2024–25. He clarified that consultancy firms are not paid fixed salaries but receive fees based on contractual milestones. “If they fail to deliver, they will not get paid,” he asserted.
The Chief Minister noted that 19 out of 36 individual consultants—around 52 per cent—are local professionals with expertise in management, agriculture and environmental sciences. He emphasized that the government is simultaneously building local capacity to gradually reduce dependence on external expertise.
Sangma explained that consultants are hired on a project-specific basis, primarily for preparing detailed project reports, ensuring environmental and social safeguards, and managing procurement processes required by institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
He maintained that such structured engagement has contributed significantly to Meghalaya’s success in externally aided projects (EAPs) and strengthened project execution standards.