GUWAHATI, Aug 29 - Voluntary organisation Assam Public Works (APW) said in a statement here today that it filed a case before the CBI here on August 25, against Prateek Hajela, the Nodal Officer in updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) alleging his involvement in a scam concerning around Rs 248 crore meant for updating the document.
It further said that it has lodged complaints with the offices of the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, Registrar General of India, Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Supreme Court also with the same allegation.
The Supreme Court has been monitoring the entire process of updating the NRC. It has also been mounting pressure on the Governments at the Centre and in the State to complete the process of updating this vital document by December 31 next, following the Writ Petition {(Civil) No. 274/2009}, filed by the APW with the Apex Court on July 20, 2009.
The voluntary organisation alleged that of the Rs 900 crore allocated by the Union Government for updating the NRC, an amount of around Rs 248 crore has been siphoned off by the WIPRO and the Integrated Systems and Service (ISS) in the name of supplying skilled manpower for computerizing the data. This has been possible only because of the collusion of Prateek Hajela, the Nodal Officer appointed for the NRC updating process.
The Nodal Officer issued work order to WIPRO on the basis of a single tender to supply data entry executives (DEE) at the rate of Rs 14,500 per head per month. However, the WIPRO outsourced the work to the ISS at the rate of Rs 8,000 per head per month. The ISS is now paying each of the DEEs at the rate of Rs 5,000 per month.
Thus, each of the DEEs is now getting Rs 5,000 per month, against the Rs 14,500 fixed by the NRC authorities. The amount paid to the DEEs is far below the amount fixed by the Minimum Wages Act for the skilled labourers. There are 9,000 DEEs involved in the NRC updating process.
The WIPRO and the ISS have thus been siphoning off an amount of Rs 2,47,95,00,000 till date, said the voluntary organisation.
It has also informed that on May 5 last, the Union Home Ministry directed the NRC office in Assam to submit its financial records. But the NRC office has so far not been able to submit the accounts, said the voluntary organisation.
