GUWAHATI, March 3 – The Assam Legislative Assembly today witnessed noisy scenes and heated war of words between the ruling and opposition members for a couple of hours over an Adjournment Motion moved by the opposition members on the issue of financial irregularities in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council. The opposition members later staged a walkout when the Speaker kept his ruling on the motion reserved.
The Adjournment Motion was moved by the members of the AGP, BJP, AUDF, CPI, CPM and Independent member Bhuban Pegu but the House started witnessing heated exchange of words right from the time the Leader of the Opposition, Chandra Mohan Patowary, started speaking on the admissibility of the Motion. There have been instances when the ruling and opposition members even resorted to launching personal attacks against each other.
Moving the Motion, Patowary said that the large-scale financial scam in the NC Hills Autonomous Council is a matter of serious concern and the lapses by the Government came out openly. He said that allegations were levelled even against Ministers in regard to the irregularities.
Patowary was interrupted by Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who said that news magazine The Week had also reported that Patowary had given money to the ULFA. This resulted in a heated war of words between ruling and opposition members, who rushed to the well of the House and started accusing each other. Patowary referred to the cases against the Health Minister, who, in turn levelled allegations against AGP.
The angry war of words continued for some time and the Speaker, Tanka Bahadur Rai had a tough time in controlling the situation. The House also witnessed angry exchanges between Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta over the issue of secret killings and Gogoi even said that the CBI sought to chargesheet Mahanta but could not do so because of the refusal of sanction to do so by the former Governor Lt Gen SK Sinha. Mahanta retorted by saying that the courts already cleared him of the charges. He also asked the Chief Minister whether he was “sleeping” when large–scale irregularities were going on in NC Hills.
Dr Aditya Langthasa (AUDF) supporting the Adjournment Motion, said that the financial irregularities should be discussed in detail by the State Assembly as tribal people were deprived of their dues and a portion of the funds also went to the militants. He described the financial scam in NC Hills a “bigger scam than the Bofors scam”.
Mission Ranjan Das (BJP) said even the Government of India is concerned about the scam and advised the State Government to go for a CBI probe.
Bhuban Pegu (Ind) said that misappropriation of funds in NC Hills is now a well established fact and the fact that substantial portion of funds went to the militants is a matter of serious concern as it concerns the security of the State. He said that the issue should be discussed in detail as there is apprehension that the political leaders allegedly involved in the scam can be shielded.
Drupad Borgohain (CPI) said that the funds are sent to the autonomous council through the State Government and now the government cannot escape from its responsibilities for the misappropriation of funds. He said that the misuse of funds also exposed the politician-militant nexus, which is a matter of serious concern.
Ananta Deka (CPM) said that the Centre is also concerned about the irregularities in NC Hills and virtually imposed the CBI probe. He said that tribal people were deprived of their dues because of the irregularities, which also posed a security threat because a portion of the funds has gone to the militants.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bharat Chandra Narah said that the Government has already written to the Centre for a CBI probe and one portion of the investigation has been completed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He also opposed the Adjournment Motion.
The Speaker later kept his ruling on the Motion reserved, leading to a walkout by the opposition members.
Source:http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=mar0410
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