Assam govt to probe alleged irregularities in subsidized rice distribution to 10 lakh ghost tea garden labourers

The irregularities came to light after BJP MLA Terash Goala raised the issue during the zero hour in the ongoing budget session of Assam assembly that the actual numbers of tea garden labourers in the state are at around 9 lakh.

But the subsidies rice distributed to around 19 lakh tea garden labourers in the state since couple of years.

The BJP MLA raised the issue and sought a high level probe into the matter.

The BJP MLA also sought explanation from the department minister over the issue.

The department minister Pallab Lochan Das said that, earlier the subsidies rice, meant for APL categories, was diverted to the tea garden owners for distributing among the labourers for an amount of Rs 0.50 per kilogram.

"When the National Food Security Act implemented, the APL rice distribution was stopped by the centre and it was done during the Congress tenure," the Assam minister said.

During the discussion, BILl's ally party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita alleged that large scale corruption took place during the previous Congress led government tenure in the subsidies rice distribution to the tea garden labourers.

"As per records, there are nine lakh tea garden labourers in the state, but rice was distributed among 19 lakh labourers. That is prove that a large scale corruption took place in the distribution system," the AGP MLA said.

The AGP MLA also sought a probe by a retired judge or CBI being conducted in the issue.

On the other hand, the speaker of Assam assembly Hitendranath Goswami said that, it is a serious matter and he asked the state government to do something over the issue.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that, he will discuss the issue with the Chief Minister.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)

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