The Director of the Local Fund Audit (DLFA) is asked by the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government to conduct a detailed inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds in the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
“We have already written to the DLFA to find out how the two ADCs have utilised the Special Grant Assistance (SAG) scheme and other schemes released by the Centre. We have taken this decision in view of the reports about the alleged misappropriation of funds in the two district councils,” District Council Affairs (DCA) Minister Hamletson Dohling told reporters here today.
In a letter addressed to the DLFA, Commissioner and Secretary in-charge of the department (DCA), Aldous Mawlong, said that Governor Satya Pal Malik received multiple representations alleging misuse of funds in the two ADCs.
Mawlong stated that there are also representations on the non-payment of salaries to the officers and staff of the two ADCs.
“I, therefore, request you to conduct a thorough audit on the expenses made by the GHADC and JHADC during the last five years i.e. from 2015 till 2020 and to submit the report at the earliest,” Mawlong said.
When asked if the State government has issued any kind of timeline for the DLFA to submit its report, the DCA Minister replied in the negative but expressed hope that the DLFA would submit its report at the earliest.
Earlier, BJP State president Earnest Mawrie had raised the issue of corruption in the two councils.
On September 29, 2016, the Centre had initially allotted Rs 1,000 crore to all District Councils in the North-East out of which, Rs 133.12 crore was allotted to the KHADC. The JHADC received Rs 1.71 crore and Rs 33 crore was sanctioned to the GHADC, Mawrie said.
He further stated that on March 7, 2019, the Centre released the second instalment out of which, Rs 34.87 crore was released to the KHADC, Rs 34.40 crore to the GHADC and Rs 11.62 crore to the JHADC.
On March 30, 2019, the KHADC received Rs 15. 30 crore, the GHADC received Rs 13.60 crore and the JHADC received Rs 5.10 crore, he added.
The BJP state president had also written to the Ministry of Finance seeking a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds in the two ADCs.