Bhubaneswar, June 28: The meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Odisha Assembly today witnessed uproar over the report of a sub-committee.

While BJD members alleged that the report was tampered with and urged Speaker Pradip Amat to reject it, Opposition Congress accused the government of “conspiring to paralyse the PAC”.

The sub-committee had earlier submitted a report holding the chief minister and other ministers responsible for the lapses of various departments.

When the PAC met today to discuss about the report and give its seal of approval, BJD members opposed it, alleging that they were not taken into confidence when the report was prepared. They claimed that the report was tampered with. “We are meeting the Speaker and will urge him to reject the report since it was tampered with,” said BJD deputy chief whip Sanjay Dasburma.

However, leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh, who heads the PAC, said the allegation was “baseless and politically motivated”.

The PAC consists of eight members from the ruling party and four from the Opposition. Earlier, a subcommittee was constituted under the chairmanship of Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan. On being asked why the ruling members did not allow the PAC meeting to go ahead according to schedule, Harichandan said: “The government is scared of constituting a sub-committee. The sub-committee had earlier exposed how the government had spent Rs 9,716.74 crore without getting required approval of the Odisha Assembly. Later, the government had to draw flak from the Accountant General (AG) for it. To streamline the expenditure, the government had regularised it.”

Harichandan further alleged that government was determined not to constitute the sub-committee of the PAC, as it would hamper its interest. “As in the PAC, the ruling party has majority members, they will not allow any one to submit any adverse report.”

The meeting ended abruptly following heated exchanges between the BJD and Congress members for over one-and-a-half an hours.

BJD member Pravat Biswal said: “The original report was tampered overnight without taking us into confidence.”

“How can the Assembly secretariat tamper with the report? The ruling party members are making false and baseless allegations to save the government and paralyse the PAC,” said Harichandan.