Gogoi rehabilitated Deka to keep ill-gotten gains under wraps: APW

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, February 24: In Assam, political rehabilitation as parliamentary secretaries, chairpersons of various boards and corporations and advisers to ministers etc., are generally seen more as a policy of appeasement to aggrieved legislators rather than smooth running of departments. However, Assam Public Works (APW) today gave enough hints that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had to rehabilitate one of the four former ministers as the adviser to the Agriculture Department only to keep his (Gogoi’s) corrupt practices and ill-gotten gains under wraps.

The Assam Government’s recent rehabilitation of former ministers Nilomonisen Deka, Pradyut Bordoloi and Gautam Roy as advisers to the departments in which they had been ministers earlier, and Tanka Bahadur as the vice chairman of State Planning Board raised a few eyebrows among the people of the state, and the APW leaders are some among them.

Talking to newsmen in the city today, APW president Abhijit Sarma questioned: “On what qualification has Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi appointed a corrupt minister like Nilomonisen Deka as the adviser to the Agriculture Department? Deka is a looting master. During his tenure he was only hankering after wealth and women. When he was expelled as Agriculture Minister, the people of his constituency were the most elated lot. However, Gogoi has dared the people of lbari by inducting Deka as the adviser to the Agriculture Department. What’s could be the reason behind bringing a corrupt political leader back to the Agriculture Department?”

Meanwhile, APW publicity secretary Rajiv Deka said: “When Nilomonisen Deka was the Agriculture Minister, Gogoi was regularly getting a share of the ill-gotten money from the minister. After removing Deka as the Agriculture Minister, the Chief Minister is passing sleepless nights with the apprehension that the ill-gotten money from the department that went to his purse may come to the fore as the department is now under Rakibul Hussain as the minister. He has brought Deka back to the department as the adviser only to wrap up his ill-gotten money.”

The two APW leaders also alleged that Nilomonisen Deka persuaded Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Anjan Dutta to ensure his appointment as the Agriculture adviser with the promise of giving him a share of the ill-gotten money. The two APW leaders also requested the Chief Minister and Dutta to open an institute with the me and style ‘All Assam Corruption Training Institute’ to be headed by Deka as its chairman and Gogoi as its director.

They also said that by appointing Deka as agriculture adviser, the Chief Minister proved that he had no trust on Rakibul Hussain.