GUWAHATI: The Opposition in Assam is demanding a probe into allegations of corruption involving CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s family.
The Raijor Dal said a firm, owned by Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, had bagged an “urgent” order for supply of 5,000 PPE kits in March 2020, when Sarma was the health minister.
Referring to a media report, the party asked why the firm was awarded the contract at Rs 990 per kit when another firm was given Rs 600 for the same.
The report said the firm, owned by Riniki, makes sanitary napkins and has no history of supplying medical equipment. As per the report, two other firms with links to Sarma were given “urgent” orders to fight the pandemic but none of them completed them.
“We demand a CBI probe, and ban on the firms,” Raijor Dal leader Vasco De Saikia said.
Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said “people are stunned” that while they suffered, Sarma’s kin got into the business of Covid-related items to mint money.
Riniki dismissed the charges as “unfounded”, and tweeted, “I did not take a single penny out of this supply. I have always been transparent about my belief in giving back to society, irrespective of my husband’s political standing.”