Bwiswmuthiary slams government for 'failing' to take action against officer violating MCC

Bwiswmuthiary slams government for 'failing' to take action against officer violating MCC

Former Lok Sabha MP Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary on Wednesday attacked the BJP-led State Government for its failure to take action against the senior officer in BTC who violated the Model Code of Conduct and issued work order of over Rs 1 crore.

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KOKRAJHAR: Former Lok Sabha MP Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary on Wednesday attacked the BJP-led State Government for its failure to take action against the senior officer in BTC who violated the Model Code of Conduct and issued work order of over Rs 1 crore.

Talking to The Sentinel, former MP Bwiswmuthiary said that minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma had been attending election campaign meetings in BTC and promising people that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not tolerate corruption and corrupt practices. He also assured to establish a corruption-free government in BTC if the BJP came to power. However, said Bwiswmuthiary, this powerful minister failed to take any action against the council Head of the Department (CHD), Tourism, BTC, Moitreyee Das who grossly violated the election code of conduct and tried to siphon off over a crore of rupees by violating the system. He questioned as to why the government had failed to take action despite it being published in an English daily (The Sentinel). He demanded that the matter should be brought to the notice of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and proper inquiry should be taken to punish the senior officer.

Meanwhile, sources from BTC Secretariat informed that the Secretary had already sent a notice to CHD, Tourism, BTC for clarification two weeks back. Moreover, the Principal Secretary of BTC has also asked the senior officer to give her reply. But, sources said that CHD Moitreyee Das had not come to her office.

The Council Head of the Department (CHD), Tourism, BTC Moitreyee Das, who joined the department only in September, violated the election model code of conduct and allotted work order of lakhs of rupees to a firm. The senior officers of the council, including the department officials, expressed astonishment as to how she could accord work order to a firm without following the procedure of the office and model code of conduct.

An official on condition of anonymity said that CHD Moitreyee issued work order of Rs. 41,96,500 to the proprietor of NEXT of Govindapur, Simlaguri of Baksa district for executing work on 'Social Media and Digital Marketing' on September 29 when the election code of conduct was in force. The same project is being done by the developer of M/S Raicom Enterprise, Kokrajhar, vide letter no. RC/Mkt/SW/2017-18/0036, dated October 13, 2017 and the completion of the work is January 20, 2021. Now the question is how could the CHD issue fresh work order where the period of the contract project is yet to be completed? Former CHD of Tourism, BTC, Jolly Das Brahma vide no letter no. DT/G-107/Raicom Enterprise/2017-18/27, dated 24 June, 2020, asked the firm to update the website with adequate information, photographs, upcoming events and festivals of other departments as well.

Sources from the finance department say that a CHD could not issue work order of over Rs. 50 lakh but the CHD of Tourism department of BTC issued work order for Rs. 58, 01, 500 for the execution of work. Sources also said if the amount was above Rs. 50 lakh then the department must invite e-tendering and the advertisement must be published in the newspapers. But the question is how and when they invited e-tender during the ongoing model code of conduct. The validity of administrative approval of any work is for six months but Moitreyee showed the letter no. of the AA on June 10, 2019 which was more than 14 months.

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