The Hynñiewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has urged Union Cabinet Secretary to intervene and direct the Meghalaya government to consent and initiate for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the implementation of the Saubhagya Scheme in the State.
The HYC said that they have demanded a CBI inquiry because the terms and reference of the inquiry committee instituted by the government does not include the criminal aspects as per the Comptroller and Auditor General report.
“The audit team had pointed out various irregularities in the implementation of the scheme in the State besides providing undue favour to a particular company (s),” HYC general secretary Roy Kupar Synrem said.
Listing all the findings made by the audit report, Synrem in the letter to the Cabinet Secretary today said the State government had time and again refuted and rejected the allegations of corruptions, manipulations and favouritism in the whole process of award of contract to the contractors to the inflation of rates and other issues relating to the scheme.
Synrem said that the observations made by the audit team of the CAG is very serious and cast a doubt on the proper and clean implementation of the Saubhagya Scheme in the State. “Hence requires investigation by the premiere investigative agency exclusively for the scheme and to initiate appropriate actions as per law against anyone found guilty of an offence,” he added.
Meanwhile, the HYC has also written to Governor Satya Pal Malik seeking inquiry into alleged unauthorised expenditures, irregularities, illegal allotment of works and undue favour to certain firms by the Directorate of Printing and Stationery.
Informing that the demand was also made to the State government the HYC said since it is not paying any heed to their demands the Governor could intervene.
The HYC stated that the CAG report has detected certain irregularities in the Directorate leading to the unauthorised and misappropriation of huge amounts of public funds during the period from 2010 to 2020.
While demanding for an inquiry on the alleged irregularities and misappropriation of public fund, the HYC also said that pending the inquiry, the Director of Printing and Stationery should be put under suspension as per Rule 6 (1) (a) of the Meghalaya Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2019, “in order to ensure a free, fair and just Inquiry and to prevent the incumbent Director to manipulate, hamper or tamper with evidences, records and also to prevent him from misusing his position to influence any person(s) acquainted with the subject matter of inquiry”.
