Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 30 Dec: Reacting to the allegation levelled against him by the All East Kameng District Students’ Union (AEKDSU) over the Seppa-Chayang Tajo NEC road scam, Chayang Tajo MLA Hayeng Mangfi on Friday termed the allegation “baseless, with malicious intention.”
The AEKDSU filed an FIR against Mangfi on 25 October, alleging that he was involved in a criminal conspiracy to siphon off fund by changing the project’s sub-head and violating the GFR and the CPWD norms. The AEKDSU also alleged that Mangfi had “interfered in the prosecution sanction process for free and fair investigation in the infamous Chayang-Tajo NEC road scam.”
Addressing a press conference at the Arunachal Press Club, Mangfi said that the allegation against him was “nothing but a mere product of unclarity on technical details from the district student’s union.”
“Eighty-one kms of the NEC road issue used to be a holistic issue. Now, because of a few sections of people, malicious intention has crept into the issue. I am not saying someone is behind the issue and politicising it, but due to unclarity on the issue, I could see ill-intention in it,” the MLA said.
Hitting out at the AEKDSU for “being a hypocrite,” Mangfi highlighted the background of the road project, and informed that “work on the 81-km NEC road project was started during then Chayang Tajo MLA Kameng Dolo’s tenure on 16 December, 2008, at a cost of Rs 87.54 crore.”
“A revised sanction amount of Rs 82 crore was funded in May 2017 when Karya Bagang was the Chayang Tajo MLA,” he said.
“There was no fresh tender for Rs 82 crore in 2017, when the same incumbent AEKDSU team was in the union. In fact, an amount of Rs 60.66 crore for the work was allowed to continue with extended agreement with Gammon India, and Rs 22 crore was allowed to be withdrawn under cost escalation.
Almost Rs 60 crore has been spent within two years during the current AEKDSU tenure,” claimed Mangfi, and questioned the union “for remaining silent on major anomalies.”
“There was only Rs 16 crore under Gammon India agreement when I became MLA in April 2019. Under my leadership, the Paoso RCC bridge, which had remained pending since 2007, was completed at a cost of Rs 70 lakhs only,” said Mangfi.
“If bringing development fund for public interest is corruption, I would love to continue doing such corruption,” he said, and added that the district students’ union “is diluting the figure of anomalies that happened in two years with 172 crore scam figures.”
He denied the allegation of “interfering in the SIC investigation or prosecution sanction against the culprits involved in the scam.”
“I felt that investigation was necessary when anomalies happened. The SIC investigation was allowed under my leadership. Now I can neither dictate to the SIC nor interfere in the SIC’s investigation. The ball is in the SIC’s court. So the question of my interference in the SIC investigation does not arise at all,” said Mangfi.
He also clarified that the changing of the project’s name with a sub-head was done to “avoid overlapping of the same project name,” adding that every work component was clearly mentioned in it.
The MLA also claimed that Rs 3.41 crore was spent on “genuine works executed by local firm M/s Para Valley Enterprise, and utilisation certificate was issued on genuine works, so that Rs 19.92 crore allocated under the special assistance fund should not lapse.”
“With good intention, we spent Rs 3.41 crore on genuine works, and I asked the department to issue utilisation certificate, considering the exigency of works to avoid fund from lapsing,” he said.
“I have informed this to the AEKDSU through numerous meetings. However, the AEKDSU went on to file FIRs against the chief engineer, the executive engineer, and me,” Mangfi added.
He appealed to the AEKDSU to “cooperate with the department, so that the project can be completed on time.”
“Raising an issue without giving a solution makes no sense. If your intention is for development, we should be allowed to work,” Mangfi said, referring to the union.
