Govt to act tough against corrupt sericulture officials

SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said on Thursday corrupt officials of the Sericulture Department would not be spared.
Sangma’s comment comes a day after an RTI reply on sericulture muster rolls revealed large-scale anomalies in distribution of wages.
Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, the chief minister said the government would act seriously on any irregularities which are brought to the notice of the government.
“If there is any instance of corruption against anyone, they will have to pay the price and they will not get away,” he said and added that in the past, he had directed departments to file FIRs in cases of corruption and a few arrests were also made.
Observing that proper implementation of existing laws will curb corruption, the chief minister said the government has come up with the Lokayukta Act and the Social Auditing Act and the rules for the Social Auditing Act are in its final stages. “After the Social Act is implemented, no one would be able to hide anything,” he added.
The reply to the RTI revealed that lakhs of rupees were drawn against the names of workers for years even when they did not work and payments were made to ghost workers.