Gogoi toughens stand on corruption

Guwahati | September 25 : In a message that he will deal with corruption with an iron hand, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday warned that action would be taken against anyone involved in the alleged Rs.1000-crore scam in erstwhile NC Hills (now Dima Hasao) district of the state.  “The guilty, whoever he or she is, will be punished,” Gogoi warned at a press conference.
He was reacting to a report submitted by the Accountant General (AG) to state Governor JB Patnaik wherein the AG detected financial irregularities in a number of departments of NC Hills district.  Quoting the AG report, the Chief Minister said, “The fact is that there was misappropriation and diversion of funds.”  The AG detected financial irregularities in the PWD, Agriculture, PHE, Forest, Social Welfare, Health, Tourism and Education departments. Of these, financial irregularities in four departments such as the PWD, PHE, Agriculture and Social Welfare besides Soil Conservation are currently being probed by the CBI.
It is alleged that at least seven Ministers of the Gogoi Cabinet are involved in the scam.
The Chief Minister revealed that he would now recommend CBI probe in all the departments where irregularities have been detected by the AG. This has been a longstanding demand of the opposition parties in the state.
Dima Hasao is an autonomous district and it is under the direct control of the Governor.
The National Investigation Agency had earlier conducted a probe into militants’ nexus with politicians and diversion of funds to militants coffers.
During its investigation, the NIA found that at least 10 per cent of funds meant for the development of the district used to be diverted to militants’ coffers, mainly the Black Widow faction of Dima Halam Daogah.
Subsequently, the Black Widow chairman Jewel Garlosa, its military chief Niranjan Hojai, the prime accused in the scam RH Khan, a liaison officer, and the council chief Mohit Hojai were arrested from different places. They are currently languishing in jails.