TURA: The ongoing police investigation ordered by Meghalaya Lokayukta into projects given by former deputy chief executive member of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council in his constituency of Silkigre in south Garo Hills has reportedly revealed widespread anomalies in the implementation.
The lid on the alleged scam was blown open by two social activists, Nilbath Ch Marak and Wilnath T Sangma who filed a case of corruption against Silkigre constituency MDC Augustine Marak in the court of the state Lokayukta seeking a probe into projects undertaken under the SPA of 2015-2016 for which the central government had released over 100 crore rupees to the district council.
The investigation by the probe team has reached the contractors under whose name the projects were taken up as well as the accused MDC and a superintending engineer of the GHADC civil works, one Rellnigstone B Marak.
According to details obtained from the probe, it was revealed that in many instances where money had been released for implementation of a project the work had been diverted into sub-projects and those contractors whose names were selected to implement the same have feigned ignorance of the same. They have denied signing documents or receiving cheques for the projects and allegedly blame the MDC.
One particular example is of the proposed construction of a shopping complex in the village of Karukol valued at Rs 95 lakhs. While the money has been withdrawn and no work taken up, the contractor named in the project has informed the probe team that he received a mere Rs 95,000 for construction of a water hole ring well.
Meanwhile, the MDC in the dock, Augustine Marak, has reportedly told investigators that many of the selected projects had been diverted to other areas but failed to provide any evidence including documents substantiating his claims.