Assam: Irregularities alleged in Kuruwabahi agricultural embankment construction

A CORRESPONDENT

BOKAKHAT: Although it is often claimed that Panchayati Raj schemes have become more effective in the rural areas of the Bokakhat Legislative Assembly constituency, developments in recent times have raised serious concerns about how effective these schemes actually are. One such issue relates to an agricultural embankment constructed under the Kuruwabahi Panchayat, which has left people worried.

Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for the year 2024-25, this embankment was constructed between Bhuiyan Gaon and Majhi Gaon under the Kuruwabahi Panchayat. According to allegations by local villagers, records of the Kuruwabahi Gaon Panchayat, already accused of large-scale corruption, show that the project was approved at an expenditure of Rs 4,33,931.

However, instead of a proper embankment, only a few bamboo posts were erected and some bamboo pieces placed over them, resulting in nothing more than a bamboo footbridge being built in the name of an agricultural embankment. Through this, massive misappropriation of government funds has allegedly taken place in the name of the project. Villagers further allege that the amount of Rs 4,33,931 was in no way actually spent on the construction of this bamboo structure.

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