By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 9: Expressing grave concern over the fund swindling by a section of officials of the Water Resource Department (WRD), the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has instructed the Chief Secretary to conduct a high-level inquiry into the alleged graft.

A Division Bench of the AHRC comprising Chairperson Justice Dr Aftab Hussain Saikia and member Jyoti Prasad Chaliha, in a landmark decision, has taken suo motu cognizance of the matter on the basis of newspaper reports. The newspaper reports stated that the Union and the Assam governments had allotted and released several hundred crores of rupees for anti-flood and anti-erosion measures from 2005-2006 to 2011-2012. However, these funds had been totally misused by the WRD.

In the light of this, the Division Bench of the AHRC has issued notice to the Chief Secretary to order an inquiry into the allegation by a team of three-member committee headed by an officer not below the rank of an Additional Chief Secretary and one of the members being an officer of the rank of an Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) and an IIT-expert.

The AHRC has also asked the Chief Secretary to submit the report of the inquiry within 12 weeks.

The AHRC observed that much of the sufferings and hardships tolakhs of flood victims in the State could have been avoided if the money hadbeen spent in a proper manner.