Meena in Pintail Village on Friday. (Kundan Yolmo)

Siliguri, April 23: DGHC administrator B.L. Meena today accused the leaders of the frontal organisations of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha of usurping DGHC tenders in connivance with contractors and doing substandard work across the hills.

Meena said only 30-35 per cent of the funds disbursed for the projects was being utilised for their execution. “I better not comment on the remaining portion (65-70 per cent) of the disbursed funds because everybody is aware of what is happening in the hills,” the administrator said.

He said he was not satisfied with the progress and the quality of work executed by the contractors in the DGHC area.

“In many cases we have found that organisations like the Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha and the Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha are executing the projects (instead of the contractors who had been given charge),” Meena told journalists at his office in Pintail Village on the outskirts of Siliguri.

“We are following government norms while issuing tenders, finalising the lowest bidder and making payments to the contractors. But on their part, the contractors are not executing the works properly. I have inspected two schemes in Sukna. There, I was told that it was the local leaders of the Nari Morcha and the Yuva Morcha, not any of the eligible contractors, who were in charge of the projects,” he added.

Meena’s sudden attack on the Morcha seems to be a two-pronged strategy of the state government. “On one hand, this will stop the cries of the anti-Morcha parties, which have been saying that the government is silent while crores are being misappropriated. On the other hand, it will create pressure on the Morcha leaders who need to prove that they have no connection with the DGHC, financially or politically. The Morcha has to show that it has severed all ties with the council, which it feels is inadequate to meet the people’s aspirations,” an observer said.

Meena, who took charge as DGHC administrator on May 11, 2008, said since then, the council has received Rs 260.53 crore from the Centre and state for “specific as well as non-specific” purposes. “Of this, we have Rs 56 crore unspent under the planned heads while there is a liability of Rs 67 crore,” he said, reeling off figures from the accounts book.

Meena said the security money of at least one contractor who had done a poor job of the repair of Rohini Road in Kurseong subdivision had been held back. “We had to issue a new tender and do the work again. We understand that if any harsh step is taken, it will only stop the ongoing works, thus adding to the plight of people.”

According to him, the money is lying unspent because of late receipt of funds and some other factors. “Government offices are often shut down, affecting the monitoring mechanism and delaying the utilisation of funds. Moreover, funds had reached us in March, which was the end of the financial year,” the DGHC administrator said.

Meena said running his office from Pintail Village was convenient. “My perception is that in the present state of affairs, if I move to Darjeeling, I might encounter problems,” he said. “It is always convenient for me to work from Pintail Village or Siliguri.”

Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha, has hit back at Meena. “He himself is staying away from the hills and is in no position to monitor the ongoing projects of the DGHC. How can he level allegations against us,” Chhetri said.