Guwahati: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the Garukhuti agricultural project.
The opposition Congress demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged sale of 90 Gir cows from an Assam government project to individuals, including the wife of a BJP minister, MP and several MLAs.
Notably, the Gorukhuti Multipurpose Agriculture Project was set up after a massive eviction drive was carried out in 2021 to remove alleged encroachers, belonging mostly to Bengali-speaking Muslims, in which two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed.
Senior Congress leader Ram Prasad Sarmah alleged that funds are available for ministers and MLAs, but not to support ‘gaushalas’ (cowsheds) to look after the cows.
“There have been widespread irregularities and corruption in the Gorukhuti agricultural project. There is a clear mismatch in the statements made by Padma Hazarika, the project chairman, and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma,” he claimed.
Sarmah claimed that the project came up over 77,000 bighas of farm land with a total expenditure of nearly Rs 25 crore.
“And above all, it came out that one minister, BJP MLAs, the state president of the party and several people close to the government have illegally purchased Gir cows brought for the Gorukhuti project,” he said.
Sarmah, a former MP and an advocate in the Gauhati High Court, said, “There has been discrepancy in the statements made by the government functionaries. There have been allegations of serious corruption. We demand a CBI inquiry into the misappropriation and corruption in the Gorukhuti project.”
“After Padma Hazarika was given cabinet minister status and large public funds were spent, people expected the project to benefit the common people of Assam and provide employment to the unemployed.
“Both CM Sarma and Chairman Hazarika had claimed that milk production from Gir cows in Gorukhuti would meet Assam’s dairy demand. But instead, there has been a massive misuse of public money and politicisation of the entire initiative,” Sarmah alleged.
APCC media department chairman Bedabrata Bora alleged irregularities in the tender process for the procurement of 300 Gir cows from Gujarat through the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
Bora questioned why NDDB was given the responsibility to procure cows and who is accountable for the death of some of the procured Gir cows.
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Demanding a judicial inquiry into the matter, he also questioned why 90 of the newly procured 300 cows were offloaded at Rangia station and distributed among ministers, MLAs and BJP leaders without any public notice or tender.
