'AGMCL went wrong since Rita Deka took charge as chairperson'

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 6: Assam Government Marketing Corporation Ltd (AGMCL) – a surviving public sector enterprise under trade sector in the Department of Handloom, Textile and Sericulture – is not exactly what it looks like when viewed from afar. The once thriving corporation is on the verge of becoming sick.

A section of employees of the corporation is now raising the demand for inquiries into all irregularities that took place in the corporation during the tenure of Rita Deka as its chairperson. The employees say that everything in the corporation started to go wrong since politically influential Rita Deka took charge as its chairperson in 2013.

According to the employees, AGMCL did have as many as 27 sale outlets known as Pragjyotica Assam Emporium, spreading in most of the major cities in the country. Twenty of the 27 such emporia have closed their shops. Now an emporium each of the corporation is doing business in Sivasagar, Tezpur, Silchar, Guwahati and Delhi. In Kolkata there are two such emporia.

State PSEs coming under trade sector like AGMCL does not have any budgetary allocation. Such corporations have to make do everything with their own resources. AGMCL has two major profit-making sectors – handloom and handicraft. Through its network of emporia it sells indigenous gamosa, endi, muga and pat clothes, diverse ethnic outfits available in the State, handicraft products like xorai, bamboo baskets, bamboo and cane wicker works, woodcraft like rhino, etc. Such items have many takers in the State and outside. This is one of the reasons behind the Delhi emporium of the corporation bagging the first prize in most of the trade fairs at the tiol capital.

A section of employees alleges that politically influential Rita Deka spelt doom for the Corporation by keeping its capable officials aside so as to create her lobby with some incapable ones. “She kept on overburdening the incapable handicraft and handloom magers who failed to deliver goods and brought bad repute to the Corporation. The failure on the part of the two magers to prepare error-free project plans in time has cost dearly for the corporation that fails to get such schemes nowadays. There was a time when the Corporation could implement a number of government schemes with success,” a section of employees of the Corporation said.

They further alleged that the Chairperson was more interested in increasing her perks and power than in expanding the areas of activities of the Corporation. According to rules, the remuneration of the Chairperson is always a token amount. The employees, however, alleged that Rita Deka raised her remuneration up to Rs 25,000 per month, besides other perks. “Without the mandatory fincial approval, she did purchase a Mahendra Xilo Car,” they alleged, and added: “Nobody knows where she sold the earlier Scorpio car of the Corporation that was under her disposal.”       

According to the employees of the Corporation, it was due to the failure on the part of the two magers the Corporation failed to implement a number of projects it had got. “Ten years ago, the corporation got an urban hat project in an area of ten bigha of land near the ISBT in Guwahati. However, due to failure on the part of its handicraft mager to prepare the plan, the project failed to see light of the day even today. The project was funded under 90:10 funding pattern,” the employees alleged, and added: “For the failure on the part of the same mager the corporation failed to implement six craft bazaar projects even after spending Rs 35 lakh for them. The Corporation hasn’t yet submitted the utilization certificate of the amount.”

This apart, the employees alleged, the handicraft mager was supposed to retire on January 31 this year. “However, Rita Deka reemployed him in the same post and have him additiol responsibilities without any Cabinet approval, which is mandatory,” they alleged.

A section of members of the AGMCL Employees’ Association did raise their voice against the wrongdoing of the Chairperson. “However, they had to face the wrath of the Chairperson who transferred them without following transfer rules,” a section of the employees alleged, and added: “So much so that she even maged to transfer three MDs during her tenure as the Chairperson.”

The aggrieved employees are now demanding inquiries into all wrongdoings in AGMCL during the tenure of Rita Deka as the Chairperson. They also demanded audit during her tenure when, according to allegations, there was no audit in the corporation.

The employees are now set to knock the door of new Handloom and Textile Minister Ranjit Dutta.