AG report on NC Hills Council not final

GUWAHATI, Dec 1 – Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has directed the State Chief Secretary to inspect whether the excess fund released to the NC Hills Autonomous Council without any budgetary provision was utilized genuinely or misapp-ropriated.

The Chief Secretary has been directed to submit the report by December 15.

He said an inquiry into the leak of the AG's confidential inspection report will also be ordered.

Gogoi, quoting from the AG report during a press conference here today, conceded that Rs 11.46 crore has been found to be given to the autonomous council without any budgetary sanction.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today sought to dismiss all the corruption charges leveled against him by the Opposition in the alleged Rs 1000-crore NC Hills scam claiming that no report by the Auditor General (AG) has so far unearthed ‘misappropriation of funds’ in the autonomous district.

“The AG report which the Opposition is referring to is not the final one. It is just the inspection report of North Cachar Hills (Dima Hasao) Autonomous Council that has sought the views of the Council and the State Government. “The report has only pointed to risk of misappropriation, but nowhere has it stated of any corruption," Gogoi said during a press conference here.

"We from our side will reply to all the queries of the AG report and the final report will be compiled only at a later stage," he stated.

It needs mention here that the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has been mounting pressure demanding resignation of the Chief Minister alleging that excess money was given to NC Hills without necessary sanction.

"It is a fact that the corruption has taken place and if any irregularity is detected in the final report, it would be immediately referred to the CBI," Gogoi said.

Stating that such excess expenditure over budget happened on several occasions, Gogoi said excess payment of Rs 13,645 crore was recorded during AGP's second tenure between 1996-2001, which was later regularized by Gogoi's Government.

“If any irregularity is detected at any level, the guilty, be it any Minister or anybody, will not be spared," Gogoi said, adding that the discrepancy of Rs 27264.23 lakh between the records of the Hill Areas Department of Government of Assam and the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council has been pointed out by the AG report, reconciliation process for which has already started.

He, however, said that the non-audit of NC Hills accounts by the AG after 2005-06 is a matter of concern.

Gogoi claimed that the Opposition was carrying out a ‘baseless, false and politically motivated’ campaign to malign him in the eyes of the people in view of the ensuing State Assembly elections.