Congress demands CBI probe into alleged corruption in Rs 25-Cr Garukhuti Project
Congress said that the project was established on over 77,000 bighas of agricultural land with a total expenditure of nearly Rs 25 crore.
Guwahati, June 3: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Wednesday demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged misappropriation and corruption in the Garukhuti Multipurpose Agriculture Project.
Alleging widespread irregularities and corruption in the project, senior Congress party leader Ram Prasad Sarmah asserted that there is a clear mismatch in the statements made by Padma Hazarika, the project’s chairman, and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Sarmah said that the project was established on over 77,000 bighas of agricultural land with a total expenditure of nearly Rs 25 crore.
“After Padma Hazarika was given Cabinet status and large public funds were spent, people expected the project to benefit the common people of Assam and provide employment to the unemployed. Both Chief Minister Sarma and chairman Hazarika had claimed that milk production from the Gir cows in Gorukhuti would meet Assam’s dairy demand. The project had shown hope that the production of vegetables, fruits, and dairy products would revitalize Assam’s economy. But instead, there has been a massive misuse of public money and politicization of the entire initiative,” Sarmah said.
Sarmah further alleged that several ministers and MLAs have become rich through this project and held the government ultimately responsible for wasting public resources.
APCC Media department chairman Bedabrata Bora claimed that the tender process for the procurement of 300 Gir cows from Gujarat through the NDDB was full of irregularities.
“Why was NDDB given the responsibility to procure cows? Who is accountable for the death of these Gir cows? Who is responsible for the public loss?” he said, and demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.
“When exactly did the Gir cows begin arriving for the Garukhuti project? Why were 90 of the newly procured 300 cows offloaded at the Rangiya station? Why were the cows distributed to ministers, MLAs, and BJP leaders without any public notice or tender? If 90 cows were distributed among ministers and MLAs, and 154 were returned due to illness, then how many remain after 56 cows have died?” Bora added.
He said that a Congress party delegation that tried to visit Garukhuti on Tuesday was blocked by BJP workers and the police.
“A BJP worker who bought one of the cows claimed that each cow produces only 5-6 litres of milk. If Gir cows brought from Gujarat at high cost give so little milk, how is the project sustainable?” Bora said.
He added that local breeds and Jersey cows can yield 10-12 litres per day, and accused the project head of hiding the truth from the public.
By
Staff Reporter