Imphal: Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee Tuesday questioned whether there is an organised gang of looters of public funds in Manipur’s Finance Department and Public Works Department.
The question comes after the Finance department in a recent memo canceled the allocated budget of over Rs 668 crore of the Public Works Department for the financial year of 2020-2021 meant for the development of the entire 60 assembly constituencies of Manipur.
Speaking to media persons, MPCC president Keisham Meghachandra stated that the cancellation of the budgetary amount of a major department like PWD, which was already passed by the State Assembly by the Finance department without offering any rational explanation is nothing but a slap in the face of the August House.
Meghachandra also demanded a white paper and a high-level inquiry committee to probe why the Finance department canceled a total of 1255 work orders, which were in fact, already given approval by the government and even started execution by various contractors and finally to find out where the money had gone.
The Congress leader informed that the Administrative Approval was accorded for 669 works under MH: 5054 for a sum of Rs 552,44.76 lakhs and 586 works under MH: 3054 for a sum of Rs 106,23.74 lakhs. But the Finance department canceled it stating Administrative Approval was accorded without any corresponding expenditure sanction, which is a joke, he added.
The party and people of Manipur will not remain silent until the government gives a reasonable explanation for the cancellation of works, he further warned.
