SHILLONG, Aug 24: Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on Wednesday said the report on the misuse of power by Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Administration) Gabriel K Iangrai is yet to be verified.
Stating that the police headquarters (PHQ) is yet to receive the report, he said if it is found to be correct, action will be initiated against the guilty.
“I have read the news report regarding the inquiry but the Police department has not received any report as such. Today, I had a meeting with the DGP where I enquired about it. He said the report has not been finalised,” Rymbui said.
He said he has no idea how the report was leaked to the media.
The report was prepared following an inquiry into alleged irregularities and mismanagement in the procurement of vehicles and use of fuel by the PHQ.
The charges are wide-ranging and the evidence is overwhelming. Unofficial procurement and non-registration of vehicles, discrepancies in documents, questionable allotment and purchase of cheaper models against sanction of expensive variants – the inquiry report exposed it all.
Rymbui said it is not a scam but misuse of power. He said the officers accused of wrongdoing should be heard. Also, how the report leaked has to be looked into, he added.
To a query, he said the fact-finding team was constituted by the PHQ and it is up to it to decide when the report has to be submitted.”
Stating that until the final report reaches the Police department, it will be very difficult to comment anything on its veracity, he said, “If there were lapses by any, due process of law will be followed.”
Meanwhile, dismissing the charge of Trinamool Congress, Rymbui said there is a change in the Centre’s norms in as far as the implementation of border area development programmes is concerned. He said Meghalaya and all bordering states will have to wait till September for a fresh direction from the Centre.
“What has been alleged is totally wrong because the state government has done everything required but the Government of India in April this year issued a letter to all Chief Secretaries of the bordering states that the schemes, which have been sanctioned but not implemented, should not be implemented,” Rymbui said.
According to him, the letter also mentioned that no new schemes will be sanctioned till September before the same is reviewed by the Centre.
Earlier, the TMC blamed the state government for allegedly hampering the implementation of border area development programmes.
Party MLA HM Shangpliang had claimed that due to non-submission of the utilisation certificates by the state government to the Ministry of Home Affairs, sanction was not accorded for the implementation of the border area development programmes for the last two years.
He had asked as to why the border residents should suffer for the alleged wrongdoings of the state government.
“For the sins of the state government, the people have to suffer. I belong to the border area and we want to develop different parts of the state but when the norms of the government change, we have to follow it,” he said.
