SHILLONG: The Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has unearthed a major scam in the construction of the Rs.7.65 crore mechanized bye-species modern abattoir project at Jowai, West Jaintia Hills.
The committee headed by its Chairman Hoping Stone Lyngdoh on Tuesday inspected the project site to collect first-hand information on the status of the project. Lyngdoh was accompanied by UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh and Congress legislators R.V. Lyngdoh and P.N. Syiem.
The Committee was surprised to see that the project was yet to take off despite the work being allotted to a Chennai-based firm Chennai Abattoir in partnership with a local firm owned by one Rishan Rapsang in September 2012.
According to sources, the project was supposed to be completed with 12 months after the work was allotted.
Sources informed that the firm had deposited an amount of Rs.2 lakh as security deposit in the bank.
Meanwhile, sources revealed that the Government is supposed to release five per cent of the total cost of the project as a mobility amount to the implementing firm.
“The Government released a total amount of Rs.1.81 crore as a mobility amount which is around 30 per cent of the total cost of the project, which is highly questionable,” sources said.
When contacted, a member of the Committee, on condition of anonymity, admitted that there were glaring lapses in the implementation of the project.
“During the inspection, we were surprised to find only a wooden shed and a transformer at the project site,” the Committee member said.
When they inquired from the general manager of the firm who was present at the site, he informed that the firm had spent a total amount of Rs.4 lakh for the wooden shed and another Rs.4.5 lakh for installation of the transformer, the Committee member said, adding that even after more than two years of allotment of the project, the firm has spent only Rs.8.5 lakh out of the total Rs.1.81 crore which was released.
“We fear that the Government will lose a huge amount if the firm decides to abandon the project. The firm will be losing only Rs.2 lakh which it had deposited as security amount,” the Committee member said.
He also questioned the leniency on the part of the Government to release such a huge amount to the firm despite the agreement that only five per cent would be awarded as mobility amount.
“This leads to a strong suspicion there are major discrepancies in the allotment and implementation of the project,” the Committee member said, while adding that the PAC had decided to inspect the project after they established major discrepancies and financial irregularities in the implementation of the abattoir project at Mawlai Mawiong in Shillong.
“We had inspected the Shillong Abattoir project following the release of the CAG report,” the member added.