Awangbow dismisses fund misappropriation charges
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 12 2022:
Water Resources Minister Awang-bow Newmai has rejected the charges that the Government has misappropriated funds sanctioned by the Centre to repair river banks without executing any work.
He made the clarification to a group of media persons at his official residence at Lamphel last night.
Reportedly, some media outlets had reported that a group of engineers of the Water Resources Department had misappropriated Rs 42 crore sanctioned by the Central Government under Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP) without doing any work and the same was circulated on social media too.
"Its true that the Centre gave approval to sanction Rs 460 crore to the State under FMBAP," he admitted and claimed that the project is being implemented in strict compliance with all formalities right from the issuance of work order to the current stage.
"A running bill has been given to some contractors based on the work progress and their performances after inspection by the Ministry concerned but the process is yet to be completed," the Minister said.
The Government is preparing to take a second instalment of the fund after submitting the utilisation certificate, Awangbou informed and expressed disappointment over the allegation which accuses the Water Resources Department of swindling funds "without knowing the fact of the matter" .
To a query, Awangbou maintained that the project is being implemented mostly in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Kakching after identifying the critical and vulnerable river banks.
The project is in its initial stage, he added.