Shillong, Sept. 14: The controversy-hit North Eastern Council (NEC) is headed for more trouble. Meghalaya chief minister J.D. Rymbai has decided to bring the allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds by the council to the Centre’s notice.

The NEC controversy began a few days back when some local residents detected that “a whopping amount of Rs 70 lakh,” was given out to a nondescript Calcutta-based firm, J.J. Matrix, for making only eight documentary films on the northeastern region.

The Meghalaya Film Makers’ Guild (MFMG) found that the NEC has agreed to sanction an amount of Rs 20 lakh to the firm to organise a handloom and handicraft fair in Calcutta.

The guild members also met Rymbai and apprised him of the deal. He was asked to intervene immediately and scrap the deal, which was apparently called without following any official norms.

“The chief minister has assured us that he will look into the matter and also take it up with the concerned authorities,” said MFMG general secretary Ampareen Lyngdoh said.

sources close to chief minister rymbai told the telegraph that the latter has already brought the issue for discussion with officials of the union ministry for development of north eastern region (doner). rymbai is said to have asked his officers to make a report on the developments pertaining to the controversy before his next delhi trip.

rymbai is expected to leave for delhi in a few days before his visit to nanital on september 23 to attend the congress chief ministers' meet.

meanwhile, a joint delegation of and khasi students' union (ksu) and the mfmg on wednesday met nec adviser (planning) p s thangkhiew and lodged their protest against the council's decision to allot rs 70 lakh contract to the kolkata based firm for making documentaries on eight north east states.

president of the guild raphael warjri said that the nec planning advisor thangkiew asked them to lodge “a formal complaint,” against the decision.

the mfmg has already written to union doner minister p r kyndiah to intervene and bring the guilty officials responsible for issuing the contract to book. the guild has also told the union doner minister that it would not spare anyone, however powerful the person maybe in their fight against corruption and manipulation of public funds in the nec. (eom)