Fund meant for the development of Madhavdeva's birthplace allegedly misappropriated

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: An allegation of misappropriation of funds meant for the development of Rangajan Ujiror Tol, the birthplace of Mahapurush Madhavdeva, the luminous icon of spirituality and the chief disciple of Srimanta Sankardeva, has provoked a reaction in Lakhimpur district.

Notably, the State government sanctioned a fund amounting to Rs 2 crore for the development of Rangajan Ujiror Tol. The State government released an amount of Rs, 20 lakh out of the total fund. As per the department rule, the released amount had to be deposited in the bank account of the construction committee which was approved by the government, but the money was deposited in a bank account which was opened in the Bihpuriya branch of Asom Gramin Bank by showing a member of the construction committee as president.

After knowing about the conspiracy, the president of the government-approved construction committee, Nomal Bhuyan was compelled to file a complaint in the bank concerned which has resulted in the bank management to seal the account. The issue has provoked a strong reaction among the followers of the Srimanta Sankardeva Sangha.

For the development of the birthplace of Madhavdeva, a construction committee was constituted with former Madhavdeva Birthplace Management Committee president Nomal Bhuyan as president, the Executive Engineer of the PWD (Building), North Lakhimpur Division as member-secretary, Junior Engineer of the same division as technical member, and Narayan Bhuyan, Prafull Hazarika, Tarun Dutta, Lakhi Chutia, Khirod Borah, Bhaskar Bhuyan as members. Deputy Commissioner of Lakhimpur, Dr. Jeevan B approved the construction committee on November 29, 2019, as per the consent of Bihpuriya MLA Debananda Hazarika given on July 24, 2019. The copies of the approved list of the construction committee members were submitted to the Additional Chief Secretary of the Transformation and Development Department, Dispur, Guwahati-6, along with the Commissioner of the North Assam of the same department vide letter No. LDP.112/D-Plan/2018-19/21-A.

But the issue of depositing the released amount in the bank account opened in the name of Narayan Bhuyan, while the approved construction committee president Nomal Bhuyan was in the dark, has led to suspicion about the fund being misappropriated. Construction committee president Nomal Bhuyan was not invited to the meeting of the Madhavdeva Birthplace Management Committee meeting held on December 8 as per verbal instruction issued by the management committee president Prafulla Borah. Nomal Bhuyan mentioned this in the complaint he made.

"The issue has hurt me. I feel insulted by this development. I fear that I will be liable as the approved president of the construction committee if any allegation arises in the future with regard to the implementation of the fund," Nomal Bhuyan said.

However, he informed about the conspiracy to the chief secretary of the Srimanta Sankardeva Sangha, the Bihpuriya-Narayanpur and Lakhimpur district units of the organization and department concerned.

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