TURA, Jan 10: The Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) is once again in the news over the alleged disappearance of central funds worth several crores given by the Centre to the state last year, for implementation of projects through the Rural Local Bodies, and the Council is being accused of diverting several crores given by the 15th Finance Commission of India allegedly for salary disbursement.
The issue stems from the Rs 91-crore Basic Grant and another Rs 91-crore Tied Grant released for the year 2020-21 to Meghalaya for the Rural Local Bodies — the GHADC, Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council.
Sources revealed that both the Basic and Tied Grants are released in two installments by the Finance ministry at the centre and neither fund can be diverted for salary or other establishment expenditure.
The Basic Grant is untied and can be used by the district councils for location-specific needs.
The Tied Grant can only be used for basic services such as sanitation, maintenance of open-defecation-free status and supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.
The allegations date as way back as May last year, which stated that the funds for the GHADC were diverted in Shillong itself during the agitation phase when employees shut down the office for weeks.
To appease the agitating employees who were on a strike, the new Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the GHADC, Benedic R Marak, reportedly made overtures and is alleged to have diverted close to Rs 20 crore on the claim that it was used for salary disbursement.
Despite lack of revenue generation and absence of any new funds forthcoming, the Executive Committee of the Council was still able to clear as many as four months’ pending salaries before the end of 2021, which suddenly made financial officials to sit up and take notice.
A thorough scrutiny is now reported to be taking place on the release and utilisation of the central funds to the GHADC to set the records straight.