Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday categorically denied that there is any scam in the implementation of a Rs 13 crore eco-tourism project in the state.
Speaking to reporters, Sangma said, “Wherever this report came out, their study and numbers were completely incorrect and the article is completely misleading. The numbers are wrong. It is a 13 crore project and there were 8-9 locations where the particular infrastructure were supposed to come up.”
According to him, this was NEC funded project in 2017 before the MDA government came to power in 2018.
Stating that most of the infrastructures are infact ready except in one or two locations, Sangma said there has been some work that is incomplete or some payment are due.
“But apart from that, there are two things. One it is not a Rs 1300 crore, the reporter got it completely wrong and they have misled the public as it is a 13 crore project. Two, as I said it is so simple and easy to just use scam, scam and scam and then make a scam on their own and there is nothing a scam, it is a project which has been completed,” he said.
“One component of Rs 90 lakh, there are some works that are left in that which of course if not completed payment will not be made in those so we will definitely look into that aspect but to jump to conclusion and come up with all big lines in the papers saying that it is a scam is simply very irresponsible.. So the concerned reporters and paper should be careful in the kind of article they come out, they should do their study and come up with facts and don’t mislead the public,” he added.
Meanwhile, tourism Minister, Paul Lyngdoh too denied the charges and said that the main cause of the delay is the challenges which the department faced for difficult approach road to various sites which was further compounded by monsoon season, bye election in East Garo Hills and even the lockdown.
The rural eco-tourism circuit project in Garo Hills was sanctioned by NEC in 2017 for 12 projects out of which 9 are in East Garo Hills, one in West Garo Hills and two in South West Garo Hills at a total cost of Rs 14.39 crores. Of which, a total amount of Rs 1361.45 lakhs has been paid to the respective contractors for the works completed.