SHILLONG: The disbanded ANVC-B has accused Chief Minister Mukul Sangma of misleading the Assembly on the issue of rehabilitation package for the former cadres.
Sangma told the Assembly on Friday that several members of the disbanded ANVC-B cadres did not submit their bank account details delaying payment of the government rehabilitation package.
However, ANVC-B in a statement issued on Saturday said Sangma’s reply was “absurd and he is solely responsible for the delay”.
Accusing him and his set of ministers of manipulating the entire process of ANVC-B rehabilitation by delaying and being biased against them, the disbanded group said the chief minister “has no guts to sit with them for discussion as he knows his government has not followed the contents of the agreed text in letter and spirit”.
“It was his government who secretly collected the account numbers of the ANVC-B cadres without the knowledge of its leaders. Secondly, from the day of signing of the agreed text, Mukul Sangma never met ANVC-B leaders to review the progress of the agreement. So who is he blaming? If he thinks his government is not at fault, he must agree to an open debate on the agreed text and its implementation and rehabilitation of the cadres,” the ANVC-B statement read.
The group said the chief minister’s statement about 11 former cadres receiving packages was misleading as those were former ANVC cadres, who later joined ANVC-B, and they (the government and former ANVC cadres) are working together to divide ANVC-B cadres.
Questioning the statistics on the number of its rebels, ANVC-B said Sangma’s claim of ANVC-B having 139 out of the 360-odd cadres was absurd and alleged that for political mileage, the chief minister had diverted the actual amount to other rebels who surrendered.
“The Rs 1.5 lakh is the amount sanctioned by the Centre, where is the additional Rs 1 lakh that was supposed to be contributed by the State government? And how many ANVC cadres got approved? And why was their last stipend not paid to them? Can anyone believe that the entire amount was spent for livelihood training of ANVC cadres? Or was it diverted too,” the statement read.
“Sangma is trying to blame the anomalies in the bank documents which cannot happen as all cadres submitted the photocopies of their savings bank accounts to the government through the police. We verified the list in our last meeting and cadres of ANVC-B resolved to stick together till the government comes clean on the matter as the list of 139 cadres of ANVC-B seems to have excluded the names of the ANVC-B chairman, general secretary and the commander in chief, which is why it (the government) is not handing it (the list) over to the leaders officially,” said the ANVC-B statement.
The former rebel group asked Sangma to make the list of the 139 cadres public. “The government should explain why the leaders are excluded. Mukul should blame his own incapability and his government for the anomalies in the rehabilitation of the ANVC-B cadres. If he is competent enough to defend his government, let him invite me for open debate on the matters pertaining to rehabilitation of my cadres,” Bernard Marak, former ANVC-B chairman said.
