Guwahati, Nov 25 : Former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today challenged the findings of Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) on North Cachar Hills (now Dima Hasao) scam amounting to Rupees 1,000 crore.
He alleged that corruption had been rampant in various departments of the state government during the present Tarun Gogoi-led Congress regime and in order to divert attention from the charges of swindling government funds as well as the construction of mega dams, Mr Gogoi had raised the issue of 'Bodoland'.
Mahanta accused the present government of indulging in corrupt practises in respect of payment of compensation for land acquired and number of trees felled for construction of East-West corridor road project.
He also demanded to make public all the facts on the funds received from the Centre on account of payment to affected farmers and plantation of trees to make good the loss to vegetation for the said road project.
The Leader of Opposition in state Assembly pointed out that Mr Gogoi had concealed facts on mega dam issue and asserted that contrary to Gogoi's claim, the pollution control board of Assam had issued NOC to National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) for construction of mega dam on the upstream of Subansiri, a tributary of the Brahmaputra.
The Chief Minister had been talking 'reckless' and concealing facts to gain political mileage, Mahanta alleged.
He dubbed the Congress as patron to division of Assam and cited the instances of curving out different districts from erstwhile Assam to form the states of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
'' Now also Congress is all out to further divide the state by inciting the party's allies to revive 'Bodoland' issue for their political advantage,'' he added.
