Boko, Sept 24th: A major scam came to light within the Agriculture Department which is expected to have further repercussions within the state of Meghalaya due to the enormous nature of the alleged scam itself.
While the whole of India has been clamouring for the development of the agricultural sector to reduce the emphasis on export, the current scam comes as a stark reminder that all is not well in the sunshine sector.
An FIR was filed against Hiren Nath, the Branch Manager of the Luki Branch of Boko for alleged swindling of funds meant for villagers of the region. Giving more details of the scam, the President of the Farmer’s Association, Denilson D Sangma spoke out against the whole episode. He said that not only was the manager corrupt.
Denilson said, “We went to Nath to talk to him about the misappropriation he had perpetrated on the people of the region. He very succinctly tried to hide the whole episode trying to state that it was part of the process s and not giving enough information about the whole process.
Mr Sangma said that “we were aware of a few teething problems that our community had with the process and were prepared for some very evasive answers. Imagine our shock when he tried to bribe himself out of the mess by paying us. We cannot accept anything other than development for our people and this person was hurting the process of growth”.
Details have emerged of the amount of misappropriation done by the SBI branch, which is many expect to run in crores, of the branch speaking to people of the region to advise them on the kind of loans they could get. According to information received the whole episode was played out in front of so many people that it was difficult to count. The Branch Manager of the branch was able to siphon off more than Rs 2.20 Lakhs from one village in relation to KCC loans received.
Denilson said, “We have 22 villages in Amguri, of which 36 farmers have been sanctioned an amount of Rs 36,000 each. They were made to sign a blank paper and only received Rs 25,000 as sanctioned amount. So if the carculation is tobe done from 22 farmers, an amount of Rs 2.2 lakhs was taken. So you can multiply by the number of villages within the region, to determine the scope of the scam”. (SP News)
