Lapang: Lots to answer for

Shillong, March 22: The Meghalaya government was caught on the wrong foot by a group of NGOs which, by ferreting out statistics under the Right to Information Act, accused it of ?using fraudulent means? to execute a beautification project here.

The findings, tabled today by the non-government organisations at the state central library seminar hall, charged the D.D. Lapang-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government with misusing public money while executing the Police Bazar kyndailad (rotunda) beautification project.

The kyndailad project was initiated following a decision by a high-powered committee, which was formed to find a suitable site for constructing the new Assembly campus after the old building near Police Bazar was gutted five years ago. Ever since, the Assembly proceedings are being conducted from makeshift buildings.

On January 30 last year, the committee, which consisted of members of the government and the Assembly, decided that parts of the old Assembly building would be dismantled to beautify Police Bazar. The project, estimated to cost a little over Rs 4.5 crore, was aimed at expanding the roads in Police Bazar to ease traffic congestion and also give the area a facelift.

Shortly after project took off, questions were raised on the excess expenditure. Today, the NGOs, spearheading the ?right to information movement?, charged the government with ?unfair and fraudulent misuse of public money?.

The members of the movement said ?estimates and plans were not carried out properly, advertisements were either non-existent or a mere formality, and tenders were awarded based on non-transparent rules.

?The whole project smacks of technocrat-bureaucrat-contractor nexus,? a member said. ?In this presentation we will show how in most of the procedures the government has been criminally negligent,? said Tarun Bharatiya of Freedom Projects.