Reports of alleged large-scale corruption and irregularities under Amrit Sarova Scheme have come to fore in Dhubri after public allegedly made repeated complaints of misuse of funds in the name of constructing ponds.
On April 24, 2022, on the day of National Panchayat Raj, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, inaugurated a mega project to build ponds in every district of the country, naming the Amrit Sarovar scheme as a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
According to a complaint, there have been allegations of rampant corruption and irregularities in the construction of ponds under the Amrit Sarovar scheme in Dhubri district.
Accordingly, in Bamunigaon Part-I under Tushpara village panchayat, Chotogirargaon under Nayahat village panchayat, Lutepara area under Raniganj village panchayat in Bilasipara sub-division, and Kuntirchar Part-ll area in Dhubri district,
Biswajit Goswami, the project director of Dhubri DRDA, has allegedly been allotted works for the construction of the pond under the Amrit Sarovar scheme for a huge chunk of money from the concerned contractor and vendors, the public claims.
The pond area of each Amrit Sarovar scheme is 0.4 hectares, with a water storage capacity of 10,000 cubic metres. While the construction of the pond has failed to follow the rules and guidelines, claims public.
Locals are worried that during the monsoon season, the rainwater will erode the banks of the sandy-soil pond, where the contractor and vendors used sandy soil in the construction of the pond in the Bamunigaon Part-ll (Alokjhari) area of the district.
Apart from this, another terrible scam has come to light in Chotogirargaon village in the district.
Where the contractor did not inform the forest department about the extraction of stones and sand from under the ground due to the digging of the pond land in the said area and allegedly selling the rocks and sand gravels secretly in different places via tractors.
Meanwhile, construction of three ponds in a single place under the Amrit Sarovar scheme is also underway in Lutepara village under Raniganj village panchayat in the district, violating rules and regulations.
There has been an adverse reaction from the public over the installation of plaques without mentioning details on the plan board of the pond. In one place, the installation plaque of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream was lying under a tap well.
The Amrit Sarovar Scheme in every state is being constructed by various scheme funds, especially MGNREGA, the 15th Finance Commission, the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, and some of the state's own schemes.