E-Pao.net: Imphal: Friday, July 06, 2018.
Peoples'
credibility to the Chief Minister N.Biren Singh led Manipur government is
slowing losing as his government top priority to root out corruption and
misappropriation of fund has been left unnoticed at various departments of the
state government.
Utilisation
certificates for utilization of fund sanctioned for the welfare of labourers
for three terms had never been submitted to the Accountant General Office.
Queries
sought through the Right to Information Act (RTI) on how the fund sanction in
the form of Grand -in-Aid for the welfare of labourers to the Manipur Building
and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board of the State Labour Department revealed
the reality which foresees misappropriation of huge amount of fund by the Board
as UCs provided showed complete utilizations of all the sanction fund but when
the matter was again inquired to the office of the Accountant General (A&G)
Manipur, it is learnt that none of the UCs have been submitted to the office
which checks for appropriations in the utilizations.
State Labour
department has been on the news for quite a long time over misappropriation of
fund before this government came to power.
And the same
has been seen continuing even after the change of the government.
RTI activist
Khumanthem Dhanachandra Singh of Naoremthong Laishram Leirak, Imphal West
district sought information through proper channel about the amount of fund
sanctioned and utilised by the Manipur Building and Other Construction Workers'
Welfare Board of the State Labour Department for the year 2011-12 to 2016-17 .
As per
information provided the amount sanction for the Board in 2012-13 was
Rs.50,000,00/-, Amount sanctioned and utilised for the year 2013 -14 was Rs.65
lakhs and amount sanctioned and utilised for the year 2015-16 was Rs.5,00,000/-
.
As per the
information there were no fund sanctions for the year 2011-12, 2014-15 and
2016-17.
Interestingly,
the Utilization Certificates showed complete exhaustion of the fund but the
matter is not submitted to the A& G office.
Non
submission of utilization certificate for grant-in-aid fund for the welfare of
the people to any government department put halt the continuation of such
grants-in-aids , but for reason best known to government authority, the Labour
Welfare Board continues to receive the fund skipping auditing and appropriation
of utilization by the Accountant General which is mandatory.
RTI Activist
Khumanthem Dhanachandra Singh alleged that the UC provided to him appeared to
be a fake one and that the designated officer of the time Elangbam Tomba who
signed the UC as Secretary of the Manipur Building and Other Construction
Workers' Welfare Board have to hold all responsibility as there are prima facie
evidences of misappropriating the fund.