JORHAT, Feb 5 � Addressing a press conference here today, a Jorhat-based advocate Rintu Goswami has invited local MLA Rana Goswami to participate in an open debate on the civic issues of the city before the ensuing municipal poll, instead of trying to woo the voters with the repeat promises of development which remained unfulfilled during his last five-year term.
�At the behest of Congress MLA Goswami, some corrupt officials of the Jorhat Municipal Board (JMB) misappropriated several crores of rupees allotted by the Central and State governments for development purposes. We invite him to an open debate on the burning issues of our city,� alleged advocate Goswami.
He further alleged that without prior sanction of the government department concerned, the past Chairman of the Municipal Board Prasanta Bora had released huge amounts of public money and allotted the construction work of drains to some inexperienced and corrupt contractors. As the contractors had understanding with the MLA and the JMB Chairperson, the technical loopholes of their construction works were not monitored by the authority.
�Rs 1.60 crore of Central fund was released to contractors for shifting the Chowk Bazaar to Pujadubi Ghat and another amount of Rs 2 crore had been given to another contractor for constructing a multi-storeyed car parking complex. But too little has been achieved after spending such a huge amount of public money,� Advocate Goswami alleged.
Expressing concern over the negligence of JMB towards the drinking water problems in Ward No. 1, 2, 3, 17 and many other Wards of the municipal area, he said the MLA must answer the questions on the lack of development in many localities.
�Had the public money been utilised properly in construction of drains, footpaths, water supply schemes and other necessary civic amenities, the urban areas of Jorhat would not have faced problems of water-logging, drinking water crisis, etc. The local MLA must participate in an open debate before the poll on these issues of corruption,� he opined.
It may be mentioned here that the Office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently sought a report on the scams allegedly taking place in the JMB. A huge amount of public money was allegedly misappropriated by the civic body in its last five-year term.
