From Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI: In Assam, a scam of crores has come out in the name of scholarship in the Department of Minority Welfare. Crores of crores of rupees have been done under fake application in the ‘Central post-matric scholarship scheme’. A senior official of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a reliable source of the investigating agency, told this reporter that at present, in this scam, a case has been found on about 10 fake institutions and several thousand fake candidates. According to the information, these 10 fake institutions digested government money by showing fake registrations of students. According to the officials of the concerned department, so far in the current session, in the name of fake registration, so far a scam worth about Rs 501 crore 46 lakh.
Leaders of both the ruling party BJP and opposition Congress are fully involved in the scam.This game of cheating was being played for many years. How big this fraud is and how many people are involved in this game will be determined only after further investigation. How much money it is a scam, it will have to wait a bit. The officials of the department concerned believe that many more cases of fraud will come up in the investigation. The source said that the fraudsters will be arrested soon and an FIR will be lodged against the management of 10 institutions including the head master and political leader.It is important to mention here that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal ordered an inquiry into the allegations of scam in Minority Development Board in Assam in the last years.
It is to be noted that the Chief Minister had recommended to the Chief Minister for investigation from the CID the allegations of scandal in the name of Scholarship in the Board Chairman Dr. Mominul Awal Board. There have been allegations of money laundering in a fake way.It may be noted that 501 crore 46 lakh rupees were given by the government to the board. In which scheme many FIRs have been lodged across the state in relation to looting done at different levels in different ways. The Union Minorities Ministry has implemented various welfare schemes for socioeconomic and educational empowerment of six notified minority communities such as Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs.During the period 2015-16 to 2019-20, the total fund allocated to the Ministry of Minority Affairs was Rs 21,160.84 crore and the actual expenditure was Rs 19,201.45 crore, which is about 90.75 percent of the allocated fund.
