ROURKELA: Raising questions on silence of elected representatives, an anonymous leaflet campaign demanding CAG audit into alleged misuse of funds and corruption in the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) is making waves in Sundargarh district.
The leaflets printed in Odia and purportedly issued by people in the district, made their way inside newspapers and were distributed across the sub-division including Sundargarh town and nine blocks on Sunday.
People affected by mining in the tribal-dominated district continue to be deprived of basic needs of healthcare, education, livelihood and better quality of life while DMF funds were being splurged on construction and other activities across undeserving areas, the leaflet read.
It additionally stated that one MP and four MLAs, who are member of DMF, are regrettably silent over the issue, and if they are clean they should recommend CAG audit to remove public perception about their complicity.
Among the DMF members are Sundargarh MP (BJP) Jual Oram, Sundargarh MLA (BJP) Kusum Tete, Birmitrapur MLA Shankar Oram (BJP), Rajgangpur MLA (Cong) CS Rajen Ekka and Bonai MLA Laxman Munda along with Hemgir and Koida block chairpersons, one Zilla Parishad member and two sarpanchs.
Commenting on the matter, Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete said she has received complaints about DMF spending by people from time to time but had no knowledge about the leaflet campaign.
Collector and DMF Chairman-cum-Managing-Trustee Nikhil Pawan Kalyan has agreed for a meeting with the four MLAs but the meeting is yet to take place. Issues concerning DMF spending and next course of action would be discussed and decided at the next review meeting, she said.
Congress leader Rashmi Ranjan Padhi said three previous Collectors of Sundargarh were careful about DMF spending but there have been massive allegations of DMF irregularities in past two years. Proper information is not provided through RTI Act and CAG audit is a must, he said. As per DMF sources, against collection of Rs 3,028.65 crore since 2015, about 4,600 projects worth about Rs 5,100 crore were sanctioned till May 2021.