TURA: The Congress-led Executive committee in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council led by chief executive member, Boston Ch Marak has been accused of withdrawing a huge sum of central funds amounting to Rs 28 Crores which was released to the autonomous body by the Union tribal Affairs ministry.
The opposition National People’s Party (NPP) is demanding an investigation into the withdrawal of the money by the current EC.
“This central fund of Rs 28 Crores was recently given by the Tribal Affairs Ministry for developmental activities of all GHADC jurisdiction areas. It was not meant for development of selected MDCs,” charged former CEM and leader of the opposition Denang T Sangma of the NPP.
According to the NPP leader, the Boston Marak-headed EC withdrew the entire funds without following the proper procedures and failed to provide tenders for works to be taken up through the scheme. The funds from the Tribal Affairs ministry were to be allocated to each MDC constituency based on the projects to be taken up and the opposition alleges that only the ruling members were selected without following any proper procedure.
“The Congress EC even forced the officer-in-charge to issue cheques in the name of contractors to withdraw the money. This has to be the biggest scam by the Congress in the history of the GHADC and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure necessary action is taken against the perpetrators,” warned the former CEM Denang T Sangma.
He also lashed out against the current Congress EC’s inability to clear the staff salaries which are pending for almost a year, till date. At one time the employees of the council were left without pay for fifteen long months and only in November and December, last year, were three months dues were cleared.