By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 16: As though they do not get their salaries, there is a section officials in Dispur who work largely on commission. And the going rate they charge is at least 5 per cent of the total funds involved. This is undoubtedly one of the numerous reasons behind files getting piled up in tables, leading to increase in the number of stillborn schemes and projects in the state where the target beneficiaries do not get benefits announced for them in Budget proposals even after the expiry of fincial years.
There are such allegations against an official of the WPT&BC Department, holding the all-important post of fincial adviser. He, according to allegations, has a lot in his bag of tricks, all meant for minting money. “If the commission at the going rate, i.e. five per cent, is not paid, the file concerned never moves. If anybody asks him about such files, he has a whole of lot of ready-made replies – I don’t know, I couldn’t locate the file etc. If the commission is paid at the going rate, such files appear all of a sudden and start their moving,” sources alleged.
“Even the files of the development councils have to face such treatment. Thus funds meant for the development of various backward communities start their misutilization right at WPT&BC even before they are released,” sources said, and alleged that the fincial adviser concerned even took to misbehave people who dare to protest his style of work.
The situation in the WPT&BC has come to such a pass that an aggrieved public, Sarat Singh Deori, had to formally moved Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi with a missive seeking the removal of the ‘murky’ official from the post. Copies of the missive have also been submitted to ministers Basanta Das; Bismita Gogoi; Sumitra Patir; the Chief Secretary, Assam; the Commissioner and Secretary, Fince; the Commissioner and Secretary, WPT & BC; the Secretary, Fince; and the Commissioner and Secretary, CM Vigilance.