Shillong, Dec 18 (PTI) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Sunday listed a host of areas in which the state has excelled over the last few years, including digital governance, rural tourism, immunisation programmes and coverage of the Jal Jeevan Mission.

Speaking at a public meeting on the occasion of North East Council's golden jubilee here, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present, Sangma said Meghalaya's coverage of the Jal Jeevan Mission has increased from just 4,500 households in 2019 to almost 2.75 lakh households today.

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The CM said the United Nations has awarded the state for bringing reforms in digital governance and development of rural tourism.

"We were also ranked as the top-performing state alongside Gujarat and Karnataka in the National Startup Ranking Framework 2021,” he said.

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On immunisation of small children, he said Meghalaya has risen from being “first from the bottom” to be among the “top three states” with a coverage of 90 per cent.

Sangma said mission mode programmes for boosting agricultural production and trade of items like lakadong turmeric, aromatic oils, ginger, spices and honey have brought prosperity to rural areas.

“These missions are directly benefitting over 50,000 agricultural households in the state.”

Meghalaya has completed several long-pending projects in the past five years, including “India's largest” football stadium at the P A Sangma Sports Complex, he said.

According to Sangma, the state's expenditure has increased from an average of Rs 8,400 crore during 2013-18 to Rs 14,500 crore between 2018 and 2022.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)