Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh has once again landed in a controversy with the state Government over release of funds by the latter for the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC).The fresh row was kicked off by the Governor himself when the Raj Bhavan on October 22 issued a note to the media saying all developmental programmes in the hill district were on hold because the state Government had not released funds to the tune of about Rs 59 crore.This included about Rs 34 crore as second instalment of the state Government’s Hill Area Development Plan assistance and Rs 25 crore allocated by the Planning Commission for the social welfare sector, the Raj Bhavan press note had said.Singh is directly administering the NC Hills district under provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution following expiry of term of the elected Autonomous Council there, with the Deputy Commissioner also functioning as the principal secretary of the Council.The state Government, however, has hit back, in the form of a press release, with a clarification that the NC Hills Autonomous Council had not submitted its monthly expenditure report to the Accountant General and the state Government. The Council had also failed to submit utilisation certificates for the funds spent, the press note issued by Hill Areas Department Commissioner KK Mittal said.As per the MoU, the Autonomous Council was supposed to send the monthly expenditure report to the AG(A&E), Assam, with a copy to the Government of Assam. For getting the second instalment released in October, the Council was supposed to give the utilisation certificates department-wise,” Mittal said.“Funds to the Autonomous Council will be released on receipt of utilisation certificates and physical and financial progress reports, for which various reminders have been sent, the latest being issued on October 1,” the Hill Areas Department Commissioner said.Raj Bhavan sources said utilisation certificates and progress reports were being prepared and those would be sent to the department concerned at the earliest. “The Governor has already instructed officials concerned to immediately submit the required documents to the state Government,” a Raj Bhavan spokesman said on Thursday.This was the second time in less than two weeks that friction occurred between the Government and the Governor over the NC Hills Autonomous Council. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his Congress-led Government differs with the Governor over the issue of influx from Bangladesh, the Government had only recently aired its displeasure over Singh — appointed during the NDA regime — for nominating former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s wife Jayashree as a member of the Gauhati University executive council.
