Clean chit

Probe finds no nexus between Mizoran Government and underground outfits as alleged by the Congress and Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP).

The Mizoram Assembly Committee, appointed to probe in to the alleged nexus between the State Government and underground outfits, has given a clean chit to the   Government. The committee report, which was tabled in the House, stated, “After exhaustive examination of the allegations, the Committee comes to the conclusion that the involvement of the State Government, direct or indirect, in the alleged illegal transportation of arms, could not be established.” The committee had been set up by Speaker Lalchamliana to investigate into the alleged involvement of the Zoramthanga-led Mizo National Front (MNF) Government in illegal supply of arms to underground outfits.

The allegations had been levelled by Congress Legislator R. Lalzirliana and Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) supremo Lalduhoma during the Assembly Budget Session last year. The Committee, set up on April 13 last year, had been instructed to submit its report within six months, which however could not be met. However, the Congress and ZNP had already stated that the two parties would not accept the committee report, saying that it was “set up for namesake.” Lalzirliana and Lalduhoma had already withdrawn from the Committee as members after their demand to put Opposition leader and Pradesh Congress chief Lal Thanhawla as the chairman was rejected.

“The report has stated what we had already anticipated it to say. Since we knew from the very beginning that the committee was not meant to find the facts, we demanded that the Opposition leader chair the Committee. However, our demand was rejected and we withdrew from it,” Lalzirliana said.

The committee was chaired by Mizoram Congress Party MLA Saikapthianga, an ally of the MNF government.

“Since all the neighbouring states and countries of Mizoram are infested with underground rebels, it is beyond the capacity of the state government to completely put a stop to the entry into or passing through the state’s territory by these rebels,” the report added.

The committee admitted the possibility of “carrying out surreptitious activities by the rebels within the territory of Mizoram without the knowledge of the State Government.”

Meanwhile, even after 35 years of its implementation, the modernization of police force has failed to take off in Mizoram, mainly due to improper fund management and failure to release matching share by the State Government. This was pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India report tabled in the Assembly yesterday. Mismanagement of funds under the police modernization scheme figures prominently in the CAG report for the fiscal ended March 31, 2007. Despite the scheme being in operation in the State for over three and a half decades now it failed to achieve its objectives. The scheme was plagued by non-release of matching share by the State Government and where funds were available, the department failed to utilize them efficiently and effectively, the CAG said.

The scheme, introduced by the Government of India in 1969, focuses on provision of residential accommodation for upper and lower subordinates of police force, construction of permanent buildings for police stations and outposts conforming to specified norms, improving the mobility of police force and skill upgradation and capacity enhancement through training.

The Mizoram Home Department had failed to attain all these objectives mainly due to improper fund management, failure to focus on the priority areas of the scheme, irrational deployment of vehicles, and inadequate training to police personnel, the report said.

Absence of internal control, internal audit and lack of proper monitoring, according to the CAG, also contributed significantly to poor implementation of the scheme.

The CAG underlined that retention of huge unspent balances ranging from Rs 0.66 crore to Rs 6.10 crore at the end of each year indicated the failure of the department to optimally utilize funds available with it.

It also observed that the failure to implement the police modernization scheme resulted in higher crime rate in the state compared to the national average.

The States share which was not related to the department, amounted to Rs 10. 85 crore, according to the CAG report.

Fifty six percent of the total budget of the modernization scheme was spent by the department on non-priority items whereas the main focus areas of the scheme remained grossly neglected. Consequently, the satisfaction level, instead of increasing, declined significantly over the period, it was pointed out. Sixty nine per cent of the total police stations and outposts in Mizoram are accommodated in semi-permanent buildings in contravention of the norms by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, the report highlighted. As against the Centre’s instructions, the State Home Department also procured lethal weapons like AK-47 rifles (400 nos) and SLRs (3089 nos.) during 2002-2007 whereas it procured only two out of the required 12 bore pump action guns.

Upon this observation by the Audit, the department has stated the lethal weapons had been procured considering the atmosphere of “insurgency” prevailing in the State as well as in the neighbouring States. Moreover, the CAG also noticed that 2289 numbers of arms of 21 categories are held by the department without authorization while 706 numbers of 9 MM Carbine guns are retained against the authorization of 503 guns (40 per cent excess holding). The Department also reportedly holds 2.14 lakh rounds of ammunition of 5 categories against the authorisation of 1.22 lakh rounds which resulted in overstocking of 0.92 lakh rounds. In case of the 6 categories of arms, 5103 numbers of arms are held against the authorisation of 7139 numbers, resulting in shortage of 2034 weapons. Fifty per cent of the total arms held by the State Police force are reported to be not reliable, not useful, very old and outdated, the CAG said.While the police headquarters at Aizawl has a surfeit of 67 vehicles, all the district units, PS and Ops have massive shortage of vehicles, it informed. Even as one of the main focus areas of police modernization scheme was expeditious filling in of all vacant posts, its number in the Mizoram home department increased from 356 in 2002-03 to 1712 in 2006-07.

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