Himanta was in the picture: Ex- GMDA chairman

BY Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, July 20: The controversy swirling around the alleged multi-crore bribery scam in a Guwahati water supply project turned murkier today, with senior Congress leader Robin Bordoloi alleging that he had "heard" of irregularities in allotment of the project when he was chairman of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and that former Guwahati Development department minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was "in the picture".

"When I was the chairman of GMDA, I had heard that there were some irregularities in the project. I was also told that one of our senior IAS officers was involved. But that officer is not in Assam now," Bordoloi told reporters.

However, he said, the matter was brushed aside and "nothing much happened".

To a query, the Congress legislator said that it was through the then GDD Commissioner & Secretary Ashish Bhutani that the files of the project were moved. "For these irregularities, the Assam government had to incur losses…But I don't have any evidence or documents," he said.

Asked about Himanta Biswa Sarma's me being dragged into the issue, Bordoloi said, "He was the Guwahati development department (GDD) minister then. He surely knew what was happening. But I can't say anything about his involvement. But he definitely was in the picture."  Bordoloi also insisted that Bhutani "couldn't have taken any decision by himself as he had to go to the minister (for consent)".