Manipur Works Minister Th Biswajit on Thursday refuted the allegations of misappropriating funds to the tune of Rs 800 crore and called Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Keisham Meghachandra ignorant of the state budget despite being present at the state budget discussion.

Speaking to the media during a press conference at the conference hall of his office quarter located at Sanjenthong, Imphal East on Thursday, he said that there was no such scam during the tenure of the present government and the allegations are baseless.  

Biswajit said he can issue a detailed report in black and white from the concerned department instead of making baseless allegations to get political mileage.

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He further refuted the allegation that the works to be done under the in-plan budget money worth Rs 500 crore and non-plan budget money costing Rs 300 crore approved by the department has not been taken up yet.  Before making any allegations concerning the budget, Meghachandra should know the details of the annual budget for the department which has already been published after it was discussed on the assembly floor, he said.

Biswajit said the total budget estimate for the year 2021-22 is Rs 754.0036 crore. From the total estimated budget, it was restricted to Rs 631.81 crore including notional due to the pandemic, and the up to date expenditure amount is Rs 369.39 crore.

He said the total budget provision as per budget estimation 2021-22 is Rs 555.7158 crore. Of the total budget, Rs 374.7158 crore is tentative budget and the expenditure on this tentative budget will be incurred only after authorisation by the Finance department upon confirming the credit of the fund in the state government account, he said.

Biswajit said only Rs 150 crore is for improvement of road and bridges (i.e. normal works). However, the Finance department directed the Public Works department to restrict the expenditure under MH: 5054-R and B to 60 per cent i.e. from Rs 150 crore to Rs 90 crore, he mentioned.

He also said the total budget fund which is earmarked for normal work is Rs 31 crore for budget estimation 2021-22. However, the Finance department has directed the Public Works department to restrict the expenditure under MH: 4059-PW to 60 per cent from Rs 31 crore to Rs 18.60 crore.

He also clarified that there is no 90 per cent pending liability for the year 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Biswajit said the budget issue has already been publicly clarified on the assembly floor. He said the payment of all the liability has been recorded and any person can get the records in black and white from the department concerned.

He further said the budget of PWD is transparent and there is no such misappropriation. The Congress MLA should not stop misleading the public in order to get political mileage with the coming of election, he asserted.