Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi has asked Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to order a probe into the use of MLA Area Development Fund of Mariani Assembly constituency in Jorhat district since 2006 till date.
Kurmi won from the Mariano LAC in 2006, 2011 and the third time in 2016.
The Congress pedaled almost 20 kms to the Jorhat deputy commissioner’s office on Friday and submitted a memorandum to the chief minister, through the DC, requesting an inquiry to be ordered by the government on the use of MLA Local Area Development Fund money since he became a legislator in 2006.
He said that he had come to know from some sources that a person from Mariani had sent a letter to the chief minister reportedly asking him to order an inquiry as to how the MLA Local Area Development Fund had been spent during the period 2011 to 2017.
Kurmi said that he found this fishy and he therefore had sought a probe into use of money from the MLA Development Fund since the time that he had became a legislator (2006) till date so that the expenditures done from the said fund was scrutinized and the findings made public.
He pointed out that an MLA does not have any role in handling funds of the local area development.
Kurmi said that an MLA only selects the project or any institution where the said funds will be given and only recommended the name.
He asserted that a legislator neither signed any cheque nor got involved in any other aspect of implementing the project from MLA funds as the implementation and supervision of work was completely done by Government officials that included technical persons like engineers and his subordinates.
“Whether the work was carried out as per Government rules and specifications and was the quality of work up to the mark, it is the responsibility of the Government officials implementing the project,” Kurmi stated.
He further said that some elements may be trying to malign him by falsely dragging him into a controversy and that a proper inquiry was required in this connection.