Aizawl, Apr 1 : The Forest Development Agency under the Environment Forest Department's Aizawl division has allegedly siphoned off a huge amount of funds, rights activist Ruatfela Nu said today.
Interacting with newspersons, Ruatfela Nu said the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had sanctioned forest development funds to three forest divisions - Darlawn, Lunglei and Aizawl.
A sum of Rs 870 lakhs was allocated to Aizawl division to cover 29 villages from 2007 to 2010 with allotment of Rs 30 lakh per village.
''I toured 17 of the 29 villages. What I saw there shocked me.
Through interactions with village leaders, I came to know that the villages were not at all aware of funds, the Union government had sanctioned,'' Nu said.
When the rights activist sought information under the RTI Act, she was informed that Rs 30 lakh had been judiciously spent in each village for construction of different assets such as playgrounds, water reservoirs and community halls, according to her.
''I have visited all the villages except for those under Saitual range, and saw with my own eyes that there was gross misappropriation of funds. Contrary to RTI information which I have received, community nursery was constructed only at Sateek village.
That too just for name's sake,'' she said.
Other villages did not have any community nursery despite the fact that they were stated as ''constructed'' in the files, she said, adding, ''This was only one of the many cases.'' According to Ruatfela Nu, the matter had been investigated by the state Anti Corruption Bureau and it submitted its report.
''However, I don't know if the ACB had filed an FIR. Since no action has been taken, I decided to initiate my own investigations in the footsteps of the ACB,'' she said.
Asserting that what she was true, Ruatfela Nu challenged forest department officials and the media to go with her and see for themselves. ''By unearthing such irregularities, I don't mean to defame any one or any department. My only motive is to create awareness among the people about their rights. This is also my clear message to the corrupt officials that we are keeping watchful eyes to ensure that the people are not deprived of their rights,'' she said.
''This may be only a tip of the iceberg. There apparently are more irregularities in other departments. I would also want to appeal to the people to come forward and claim their rights,'' she said.
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