Make GHADC audit report public: BJP

SHILLONG, Nov 18: The state BJP has mounted pressure on the chief executive member of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) for making the audit report on the alleged misuse of central funds under the Special Assistance Grant (SAG) public.
The party also decried the delay in submitting the report of the GHADC and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC).
Citing reports that the JHADC audit report should be ready by next week, state BJP president Ernest Mawrie said, “The CEM should ensure that the GHADC audit report is completed and put in the public domain.”
He recalled that the BJP had raised the issue of alleged corruption in the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) and said the party had used RTI to get facts and documents on graft in the JHADC and GHADC.
Mawrie said he had during the last meeting of the heads of the MDA coalition suggested to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma that the audit reports should be tabled within a stipulated time. “We are still to see the reports,” he added.
Reiterating that the BJP will push for a CBI probe if the report is found to be unsatisfactory, he said, “The ADCs are an autonomous body and the funds like SAG they have received have come from the Centre and should be probed.”
The state BJP had earlier demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of crores of rupees sanctioned under the SAG to the JHADC and GHADC, but the state government ordered an audit of the GHADC finances for five years from 2015 to 2020.
Meanwhile, a senior official said the report on the audit of the JHADC accounts will be ready by this week. An assistant director heading the audit team has almost completed the proofreading of the report, he said.
He also said the Directorate of Local Fund Audit will take up with the Finance department for submitting the report to the District Council Affairs department.