‘Garo Hills MLAs did not utilise Rs 25L for COVID’

SHILLONG: The state BJP has alleged that the amount of Rs 25 lakh sanctioned to the MLAs of Garo Hills during the lockdown period was not utilised properly.
BJP leader, Bernard Marak alleged that Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma was yet to utilise the Rs 25 lakh sanctioned for relief work in his South Tura constituency.
“South Tura was sanctioned Rs 25 lakh while North Tura was sanctioned only 12.5 lakh (50%), which was paid to one supplier,” he said.
According to Marak, the RTI filed in Tura Municipal Board confirmed that Rs 25 lakh sanctioned for the South Tura MLA was not utilised while Rs 12.5 lakh sanctioned for the North Tura MLA was paid to one supplier.
“The status of Rs 12.5 lakh is unknown as the list of beneficiaries could not be furnished by the implementing agencies which compels one to doubt if the relief was issued to ghost beneficiaries,” he said.
Stating that the RTI findings in Tura have revealed non-utilisation of relief funds, he added that the BJP state president has asked for the expenditure details of the relief work done from the representatives but till now only BJP MLAs have submitted the details of the expenditure.
“It looks like there are anomalies in the utilisation of Rs 25 lakh by other MLAs too which we will verify through RTI,” he said.