Shillong, Jun 7: Tura MDC Bernard N Marak has alleged that funds from the 15th Finance Commission meant for rural and urban local bodies (RLBs and ULBs) were “misutilised as party funds” by ruling parties in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
In a statement, Marak said the GHADC “contravened guidelines by allocating work to party affiliates who failed to submit utilisation certificates, thereby jeopardising funds meant for RLBs and ULBs.”
He said that following a tripartite agreement to strengthen autonomous district councils, the GHADC received “substantial funds from the Centre but failed to submit utilisation certificates for tied and untied funds.” This, he claimed, led to “the withholding of over Rs 245 crore for the GHADC, impacting all other ADC-related funds.”
“Intended for RLBs and ULBs, these funds were instead issued to contractors predominantly affiliated with the ruling parties,” Marak alleged.
Citing Tura constituency, he said “95 percent of the work was allocated to inexperienced contractors without the concerned MDC’s knowledge, leading to fund misuse and misappropriation and failure to issue UCs.”
“Partial utilisation of funds for public projects occurred in Garo Hills,” he added, but “the allocated funds far exceeded the minimal work done, benefitting party affiliates benefitting lakhs and in previous projects even up to crores rather than local bodies for whom the funds were meant.”
Marak further said “even the funds sanctioned through special packages in 2015-16 remain in gross mystery as projects disappeared from site and abandoned mercilessly.”
“The traditional bodies are left with zero benefit while immature party men misuse the fund openly,” he said. “Most contractors failed to complete the work, preventing timely issuance of utilization certificates to authorities and severely impacting fund flow from the Centre to GHADC.
