JORHAT, Nov 24 - On the basis of RTI documents and spot verification at the construction site of the multi-storey car-parking complex in the old public bus stand here, several citizens, including advocates, representatives of student organisations and locals, have alleged that a major financial scam had taken place in the government project and the �rampant corruption� had delayed even its initial works during the last two years.
Though Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had laid the foundation stone of the car-parking complex on October 1, 2013 and assured of its completion within a few years, the project has not witnessed any progress for the last two years. Now, only some iron-bars of foundation works can be seen at the project site.
�Not even a single wall has been constructed in the past two years. People of Jorhat will be astonished after knowing that Rs 2.4 crore was released by the Jorhat Municipal Board to the contractor who did not complete even the primary construction of the multi-storey building. All the documents are available with us. How can such a big amount be released to the contractor without monitoring the progress of the allotted works,� said advocate Rintu Goswami at a press conference here today.
In the meeting of the foundation stone laying ceremony, it was also mentioned that a financial sanction of over Rs 10 crore was received from the Central Government�s Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) for the multi-storey car-parking complex and the allotted public money was assured to be spent systematically to prevent corruption and delay.
As the citizens of Jorhat have not seen any progress of work, they recently started thinking that the State Government and the then office-bearers of the Jorhat Municipal Board gave only false promises of mitigating their parking woes.
�The people of Jorhat have been duped by the corrupt politicians, officials and contractors. If the Chief Minister loves his citizens he should announce a fair probe into this big-ticket scam. We demand exemplary punishment for all the corrupt officers, contractors and the politicians involved in the scam,� said AJYCP State organising secretary Siba Kalita.
Along with advocate Goswami and AJYCP�s Kalita, AASU office-bearers Jul Khaund, Kukil Dutta, advocate Gautam Bora, RTI activist Jitu Bora, local citizen Munna Prasad and several other residents of the nearby localities alleged that neither the local MLA Rana Goswami nor the MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa ever visited the project site.
Though Deputy Commissioner Solanki Vishal Vasant was repeatedly requested to monitor the works, he conspicuously refrained from visiting the spot, they rued. �We request the Chief Minister to have a look at the construction site during his next visit to Jorhat. We also seek his intervention,� said Goswami.
