ACAUT demands details of bridge construction in Mon

'Alleges Rs. 57.09 crores spent for construction of a single bridge' Dimapur, August 14 (EMN): The ACAUT on Monday gave a time of one week to the concerned department to furnish the details related to the construction of a single bridge between Tizit and Mon where the government has in most probability spent an amount of Rs 5709.94 lakhs as per RTI replies. A press release from the anti graft body stated that an amount of Rs 2854.97 lakh (28 Crore 54 Lakhs 97 Thousand) was released on April 17, 2017 under “Non Developmental” against construction of the same bridge. The ACAUT further alleged that another drawal authority of the same amount for the same project was again released amounting to Rs 2854.97 lakh on May 29, 2017, mentioning that this amount release order was issued in supersession of the earlier order. "But when the first amount of Rs 28.54 Cr was allowed to be drawn on or before April 20, 2017, the Finance Department issuing such belated supersession order raises a lot of questions and points to blatant corruption since this so-called supercession order in effect allows two withdrawals amounting to Rs. 57,09,94,000 Cr." stated ACUT in the press release. The project is under EE PWD (R&B) Mon, however, the drawal authority was issued in favour of EE PWD (R&B) Kohima South Division which the ACAUT indicated it as enough proof that the bill is totally fictitious. It therefore demanded that the concerned department "Give the names of the contractor/firm, total cost of the project, date of commencement of project and total amount released so far, including project work for improvement of Road from City Tower Jn to DC court Jn Dimapur where almost 20 crore rupees was released ;Give the names of those officials and individuals involved in the processing and passing the project and payment; Name of the officers in Planning and Finance Department involved in processing and clearing the drawal authorities; The PWD to justify incurring of such a huge amount for a single bridge. "Failing to satisfactorily clarify on these gross anomalies in the public domain within one week, the ACAUT Nagaland and the people of Nagaland will have no choice but to conclude that public funds have been siphoned off and therefore it will be compelled to lodge an FIR with the police. In the meantime, the Chief Minister is asked to immediately freeze the amounts released against the projects to the so-called contractor/firm," it further added.