Alleging a scam to the tune of Rs 63,000 crore in developmental works carried out in the North-East, the Bharatiya Janata Party appealed to President Pratibha Patil to direct the authorities to carry out a detailed investigation into the "loot".
BJP president Nitin Gadkari led a delegation to Rashtrapati Bhawan to hand over to Patil a memorandum on the issue as also a copy of party's report on scams in the North East.
The report claimed that if the level of corruption in the region was quantified, it could be to the tune of Rs 63,000 crore. Various scams in Assam, according to the report, have been quantified to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore.
Talking to media after submitting the memorandum, Gadkari said, "The scandals in the North East have broken all records...there is a scam in PDS due to which poor are not getting their quota of rice which is sold in Bangladesh."
The report of the BJP team was based on evidence collected using the Right to Information, he said. The BJP has demanded setting up of special courts to deal with the issue of corruption in the region to ensure speedy disposal of cases.
The party also demanded a "coordinated investigation" by various investigation agencies, including the NIA and CBI.
"As the Constitutional Head, I would urge you to ask the concerned authorities to have a detailed investigation...such scandalous administration affects people's faith in the democracy," the memorandum read.
The BJP leader alleged that when Congress leaders from the region realised that their counterparts in Delhi were indulging in "loot", they "decided not to lag behind". Gadkari had recently said that he would urge senior party leader and PAC Chairman M M Joshi to take up the CAG report on North-East at the earliest.
