TURA, March 24 - Allegations of financial mismanagement have been levelled against the executive committee of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) by an NGO in Garo Hills.
The NGO AYWO has promised to seek information under RTI to reveal the misappropriations. �A chair costing Rs 1,500 in the market has been supplied to GHADC at close to Rs 15,000. Same is the case with all items supplied to the Council. Even a tea cup is shown as costing about Rs 300,� a source said.
Another allegation was that the furniture and office accessories were changed regularly with most of the furniture landing in the house of the EC members.
Another startling revelation has been the presence of bogus employees in the GHADC, with a section alleging that almost Rs 1 crore goes in the name of paying these bogus employees.
Recently, a case of an employee drawing salary from three different departments came up which was acted upon by Deputy CEM, Augustine Marak.
�We threw him out immediately after coming to know that he was claiming three salaries. We believe there are more such cases and expect a saving of Rs 20 lakh is possible if a proper scrutiny is made,� said Augustine.
The new EC of Garo Hills Progressive Alliance (GHPA) is lately looking at streamlining the processes to minimise leakage of finances.
The finances of GHADC came under scrutiny following the non-payment of salaries to staff for over seven months last year despite the former EC getting more than Rs 28 crore for payment of salaries. The money was allegedly used to pay contractors, most of whom were reportedly related to EC members.
�A payment of Rs 28 crore was made to GHADC as its share of royalty on coal by the State Government in June- August last year. This was sufficient to clear the pending salaries of the staff but it was diverted to pay off contractors. This has led to the staff being deprived,� said a source in GHADC on the condition of anonymity.