Guwahati, Nov. 30: A multicrore-rupee drainage project in Dhemaji town has come under the scanner of both Delhi and Dispur following complaints of alleged irregularities against the top brass of Dhemaji Town Committee, which is implementing the project.
Following a complaint lodged by the Dhemaji Town Committee Contractors Association that the town committee top brass had allegedly misappropriated a sum of over Rs 3.65 crore meant for payment towards construction of drains/culverts, the ministry of urban development is said to have “assured” a two-member delegation of the association to institute a proper inquiry into the alleged anomalies besides despatching a team to the town within a week.
That is not all.
Based on the complaint, the chief minister’s office has also asked the district administration as well as the urban development department to look into the alleged irregularities.
Dehamji deputy commissioner M.S. Manivannan told The Telegraph that he received the CMO directive on Tuesday and has accordingly instituted an inquiry into the alleged anomalies.
The charges against the incumbent chairman and vice-chairman of the town committee is that they had not paid the contractors engaged by the previous chairman, but instead, made payments for wo-rk already done by the latter to a new group of contractors.
Dhemaji town, around 430km from Guwahati, and the Dhemaji district, dominated by the Mising community, is one of the most underdeveloped areas of the state.
Subhas Doley, the vice-president of the contractors’ association, told The Telegraph today, “I, along with our adviser Bhabendra Narah, met urban development minister Kamal Nath and a joint secretary in the ministry on Monday after MP Ranee Narah endorsed our memorandum seeking an inquiry and removal of the top brass over the irregularities. Expressing concern over the development, the Union minister assured us that the anomalies would be looked into, and that a team would also be sent to Dhemaji within a week. The CMO and the state urban development department have also ordered probes into the anomalies.”
Dhemaji Town Committee chairman Pranab Pegu, however, dismissed the charges, saying, “How can I make payments when I don’t have records of work orders or bills? Who will bail me out if I am prosecuted for violating rules? I know a section within the association, namely Doley, Narah and Indreswar Pegu, is campaigning against me and the vice-chairman. We are ready with our answers to face any inquiry.”
Pegu went on to seek an inquiry for payments made for the Rs 12.17-crore drainage project sanctioned in 2007 before he took over charge as chairman in October 2009. “As much as Rs 7 crore had been paid to contractors before I took over. But what had they constructed? If there is an inquiry, it has to be from the time of my predecessor,” Pegu said.
Sources attributed the development to intra-party politics in Congress.
“Two town committee members are with MP Ranee Narah while the other two are with local MLA Sumitra Doley Patir. More than alleged anomalies, it is about the tug-of-war between the two elected representatives over control of the town committee. We hope the multiple inquiries will bring out the truth and put in place checks and balances to check misutilisation and misappropriation of funds, if any” a source said.
