EMN
DIMAPUR, APRIL 20
Reacting to recent statement of Food and Civil Supplies (F&CS) Secretary Ramongo Lotha, the ACAUT Nagaland today termed it as ‘astounding and most unfortunate’, and demanded that the secretary as the head of the department be held accountable and immediately suspended on moral grounds, on his failure to discharge his duties to check and act on the gross misappropriation 402 crores in his department and to enable an impartial inquiry.
The ACAUT also demanded that Central Bureau of Investigation be summoned to investigate the enormous misappropriation.
The ACAUT also demanded that the Government of Nagaland, Chief Secretary and PAC to clarify to the people on why such gross misappropriation has not been notified and acted on.
The ACAUT warned that unless the government brings in the CBI to investigate such huge misappropriation of public money, it will have no choice but resort to drastic measures even to the extent of calling the public and closing down the Department of F&CS indefinitely.“The reaction of Ramongo Lotha Secretary Food and Civil Supplies (F&CS) is astounding and most unfortunate, the statement smacks of arrogance and total disrespect to the intelligence of Nagas. To say that it is unaware of the misappropriation of whopping 402 crores as report has not been received from CAG or from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is simply outrageous as CAG report is all out in the public domain. It is also the prerogative of the Secretary F&CS as head of department to check on any misappropriation in his department and to deny ignorance of misappropriation of not in terms of lakhs but hundreds of crores is just not acceptable by any standard,” Media Cell, ACAUT Nagaland in a statement said.
“It also raises the question whether the Chief Secretary and the Government have submitted the CAG report to the PAC and if so why has PAC not submitted the report to F&CS, either way it seems quite apparent that there’s a conspiracy by all parties involved to hush up the matter. The Secretary of F&CS has in essence have directly implicated the Chief Secretary, Government of Nagaland and the PAC for the failure to notify the Department of F&CS on the misappropriation of 402 crores thus it is requisite on the Chief Secretary, Government of Nagaland and the PAC to clarify the matter at the earliest.”
