Shourie accuses reporters of allegation-mongering

By Barun Das Gupta

GUWAHATI, SEPT. 23. The Minister for Disinvestment and Development of North-East, Mr. Arun Shourie, today accused reporters of ``indulging in allegation-mongering''.

When he was told that officials in the Assam Government had to bribe the Central officials concerned to get funds sanctioned, he asked, ``Name a single official who did this,'' knowing fully well that no official would ever admit paying or receiving bribe.

Speaking at a press meet here, he blamed the Assam Government for the backwardness of the State. He referred to the latest CAG report to drive home his point that the State had failed to utilise Central assistance and that progress on various projects was very slow.

Giving an example, he said the State PWD could not complete laying some border roads even in four years and eventually handed over the job to the Border Roads Organisation.

When his attention was drawn to the CAG report pointing out that in the last five years, Assam had paid back to the Centre more by way of debt-servicing each year than it had received from the Centre and the net inflow of Central assistance was negative, he asked, ``Who was responsible for making Assam borrow from the Centre?''

He said the State's non-plan expenditure was increasing, it did not have resources to pay salaries to its employees and was spending money meant for development to meet the wage bill.

He, however, assured that the Prime Minister was taking a personal interest in the development of the North-East region. As the Minister for the North-East he would visit Assam and other States every month to monitor the progress, he said.

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Section  : National
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