House to discuss NC Hills scam

GUWAHATI, July 15 – Congress MLA Wajed Ali Choudhury has made a plea with Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai to allow a discussion on the alleged Rs 1000-crore NC Hills (now Dima Hasao) District Autonomous Council scam in the State Assembly under Rule 50 of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the Assam Legislative Assembly, during the current session. The discussion is expected to be held on the Saturday session of the House.

Disclosing this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bharat Chandra Narah and Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi told newspersons at a press conference at the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) office here today that Congress MLAs Abdul Khalek and Bhupendra Kumar Bora have seconded the move of Choudhury. The plea was made today at the instance of the Chief Minister, they said.

The Opposition had affected the functioning of the Assembly during the past two days demanding a discussion on the issue under Rule 56 by adjourning the normal discussion of the House. It has been trying to give an impression that the Treasury Bench was keen on evading the issue.

In fact, the Treasury Bench is for an open and thorough discussion on the issue. It does not want to evade the issue. A discussion under Rule 50 could be held for two and half-an-hour. The Treasury Bench will demand a thorough CBI inquiry into the scam covering all the departments with effect from 1996, they said.

Choudhury said that the Opposition demanded a discussion by suspending discussions on the scheduled items, in the House. But a discussion on the issue could be held without adjourning discussions on the scheduled items.

The Government had initiated the inquiry into the NC Hills scam much before the demand raised by the Opposition in this regard, he said.

Abdul Khalek said that the NC Hills scam-tainted Social Welfare Department officer RH Khan was appointed by the previous Government in the late 1990s.